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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. How does Palmer's dad respond when Palmer asks him if he was a wringer?

2. What other things does Beans do to try and get a reaction from Dorothy?

3. Who does Palmer decide to tell about his pet Nipper?

4. Who do the boys see at the playground on Palmer's birthday?

5. How does Palmer describe the feeling he has when he is with Dorothy?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do Palmer's parents react to The Treatment?

2. How does Palmer react when the gang tell him they believe he has a pigeon for a pet? What does Palmer want the gang to believe and why?

3. What are some of Palmer's memories of his first pigeon shoot? What does this tell us about Palmer?

4. When Palmer returns from Beans' birthday party he finds Dorothy waiting in his room. She sarcastically calls him Snots and talks about his gang. What does she say, and what does she really mean?

5. What does Beans pull out of the freezer when the gang is at his house? What does he do with it? The author does not tell us how Palmer feels about what Beans has done. Based on what you know of Palmer, how does he feel about the prank?

6. Palmer asks his mother for a favor. What is the favor, and why does Palmer ask her? How does he explain this to his mother?

7. When Beans has his tenth birthday party, he invites the gang to his house and then leaves with them to find Farquar. Again, The Treatment is part of the story. How does Beans anticipate The Treatment and his birthday in general? How is Beans' reaction different from that of Palmer?

8. When the gang attacks Dorothy with snow balls on the first day of school, Palmer joins in without hesitation. How does he rationalize his behavior toward her?

9. Palmer begins to identify a certain smell associated with the pigeon shoot. Describe the smell and how it injects itself into Palmer's life.

10. How does Palmer resolve his problems of meeting his friends at the cannon on the day of the pigeon shoot? Why? What do we learn about Palmer?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When Palmer's father catches the fly ball at the ballgame and gives it to Palmer, the narrator says Palmer held the ball on the way home and "imagined he felt a heartbeat." What does the narrator mean by this statement?

Essay Topic 2

Palmer notices that after letting Nipper leave, he is less anxious and tense. However, he also realizes the price he has paid for that relief. Discuss the price Palmer feels he has paid by letting Nipper leave.

Essay Topic 3

When Palmer and the gang go to the railroad station in the middle of the night to see the five thousand caged pigeons for the shoot, Palmer is faced once again with a conflict of emotions. Describe the conflict in Palmer's mind and how he deals with it.

(see the answer keys)

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