1. At what time of year is Doodle finally ready to show the family that he can walk?
(a) Midsummer.
(b) Planting time.
(c) Midwinter.
(d) Harvest time.

2. When Doodle first begins to move, how does Mama feel?
(a) Puzzled.
(b) Anxious.
(c) Apathetic.
(d) Overjoyed.

3. The phrase, "[T]he oriole nest in the elm was untenanted and rocked back and forth like an empty cradle" (1) is an example of which two literary techniques?
(a) Metaphor and personification.
(b) Foreshadowing and personification.
(c) Imagery and metaphor.
(d) Simile and foreshadowing.

4. What Biblical event does Aunt Nicey mention when the boys tell the family that they have a big surprise for them?
(a) The Flood.
(b) Adam and Eve eating the apple.
(c) Noah being swallowed by a "great fish."
(d) The Resurrection.

5. What kind of tree is in Brother's yard when he is a child?
(a) One with medicinal bark.
(b) One with red flowers.
(c) One with cloudy sap.
(d) One with thorns.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Brother says, of the hope they had when they started training, "Success lay at the end of summer like a pot of gold" (7), what should the reader understand from this simile?

2. In the description of the garden "ironweeds grew rank amid the purple phlox" (1), what does "rank" mean is true about the ironweeds?

3. In the place name "Horsehead Landing," what does the word "landing" mean?

4. At first, Daddy is upset by the hurricane and looks defeated. What does he do that makes Brother and Doodle think that things will be all right?

5. What do the "strange names" (8) talked about at the family dinner party allude to?

(see the answer key)

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