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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following roles does Gabriella play?

2. To which of the following is the novel dedicated?

3. Which of the following classes does Sybeck teach?

4. Whom of the following is cited in the novel’s epigraphs?

5. Which of the following professions does Charlie’s father hold?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the utopian vision February’s students describe in her class?

2. While waiting in the hospital for the birth of his sister, what does Austin note is “the problem with everything these days” (94)?

3. To what does February ascribe the origin of her name?

4. Why are Charlie and her father late for their first ASL class?

5. To what does February ascribe the low regard in which teenagers are often held?

6. What event causes Charlie to be assigned to drama club activities?

7. For what reasons does Austin note a student enters River Valley as a high schooler?

8. What makes the Chipped Cup February’s favorite lunch spot?

9. Why does Charlie note knowing how sound travels through balloons?

10. What indication do Skylar’s grandparents first have that she can hear?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the novel, some characters are given but one name, while others are given first- and surnames, and still others are accorded names and titles. What significance, if any, accrues to patterns of naming in the novel? If no significance accrues, what purpose might be served by the patterns of naming in the novel? How does True Biz bear as much out?

Essay Topic 2

To what genre other than young adult literature might True Biz be considered to belong? What in the text supports that identification? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 3

Amid February’s musings early in the novel is a linguistic concept described as “the ‘critical window,’ within which a child had to gain fluency in at least one language, any language, or risk permanent cognitive damage. Once the window shut, learning anything became difficult, even impossible—without a language, how does one think, or even feel?” (17). Does the concept bear out in the novel and in experience? How so, or how not?

(see the answer keys)

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