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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. What sport does Peralta like to watch with his father as a child?

2. How much older is Peralta's father than his mother?

3. Who does Peralta meet at an arts program who takes Peralta and Yando under his wing?

4. What drug plagues Peralta's neighborhood in Harlem?

5. Where is the homeless shelter where Peralta and his family spend some time during his youth?

Short Essay Questions

1. What kind of support network does Peralta's family have in America when they first arrive?

2. In Part I, what is one of Peralta's early negative experiences with police?

3. What is Maria scared that Peralta and Yando might become?

4. Why does one of Maria's friends think that Peralta might not be her son?

5. Why does Peralta's family end up in a homeless shelter in Part I?

6. What early literature assignment at Collegiate captivates Peralta, and why?

7. What differences does Peralta feel between his neighborhood in Harlem and the Upper West Side, where his private school is located?

8. What does Peralta do at Resurrection Sunday school to make the teacher want to introduce him to the priest?

9. Why does Peralta's mother tell him he needs to be prepared for something happening to her?

10. How does Peralta's family afford to eat when he and Yando are young children and his mother can not work for lack of papers?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does hearing some of his Princeton classmates' hard-line views on immigration change Peralta's ideas about his own role in the country's immigration debate? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your answers.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay exploring Peralta's perspective on Catholicism, faith, and spirituality, citing specific references to the text to help support your answers.

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the book, how does Peralta describe his interactions with girls and women he is interested in romantically? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

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