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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 does Yolanda decide to bake?

2. What does Yolanda discover in the middle of the night?

3. Why is Andrew uninterested in the photograph?

4. What lie has come back to haunt Yolanda?

5. About what does Andrew dream?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Andrew become confused when Miss Gilluly shows him a picture of a dog?

2. What gives Yolanda comfort in her new home?

3. Why does Andrew go to Asphalt Hill?

4. What is Yolanda thinking about as the novel opens?

5. How does Vic use music to make a connection with Andrew?

6. What are the skaters at Asphalt Hill's reactions to Andrew's harmonica playing?

7. Who is impressed by Yolanda and why?

8. What does Shirley say about double-dutch that causes Yolanda great discomfort?

9. How does Shirley react to what Yolanda tells her?

10. Describe Andrew's encounter with the drug pushers at Asphalt Hill.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

"Yolonda's Genius" belongs to the teen fiction genre. Discuss the following:

1. Define the literary term "genre" and give several examples of three other genres in addition to the teen fiction genre.

2. Discuss two reasons why it might be useful to label a text by genre and two reasons it might be disadvantageous to label a text by genre.

3. What do you think is the difference between a teen fiction and teen historical fiction?

Essay Topic 2

There are a number of interesting questions raised by "Yolonda's Genius"--questions that Fenner may wish readers to consider and think through carefully. Discuss the following:

1. What does the term "author agenda" mean?

2. Name one idea/concept you think may have been a part of the Fenner's agenda. Analyze that idea throughout the book and discuss Fenner's probable agenda concerning that idea.

2. Do you think writers who have an agenda for writing should point it out in a preface?

3. How often do you think fiction is written with a clear agenda in mind by the author?

Essay Topic 3

Often, authors will write about "what they know," and sometimes knowing a little about the author makes the books more interesting. Discuss the following:

1. Research and give a brief biographical sketch of Carol Fenner.

2. What in Carol Fenner's background may have helped her in writing "Yolonda's Genius"? What may have influenced the way she depicts various characters and scenes?

3. Do you think there is always some of the author's own life in his/her novels? Why or why not? Give examples.

(see the answer keys)

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