Question 1 of 10
Dana pressed his thumbs into Roy's temple, 'as if he were squeezing a soccer ball.' What literary technique is the author using here?
A) Metaphor
B) Simile
C) Personification
D) Hyperbole
Question 2 of 10
The passage describes the boy as 'straw-blond and wiry'. What does 'wiry' suggest about his body?
A) He is very muscular and bulky
B) He is tall and awkward
C) He is thin but strong and tough
D) He is small and weak
Question 3 of 10
The author writes: 'No shoes, no backpack, no books — strange, indeed, on a school day.' What effect does the repetition of 'no' create?
A) It builds a sense of mystery by listing everything the boy is missing
B) It makes the reader feel sorry for the boy because he is poor
C) It shows that Roy is angry about the boy not following rules
D) It slows the story down to a boring pace
Question 4 of 10
What does the word 'faded' tell us about the boy's Miami Heat jersey?
A) It is a brand-new jersey that is a light colour
B) The jersey is slowly disappearing like a ghost
C) The jersey is an expensive designer brand
D) It has been worn and washed so much that the colour has become duller
Question 5 of 10
How does the author use contrast in this passage to create interest?
A) By comparing the warm bus to the cold weather outside
B) By placing the trapped, bullied Roy against the free, running boy
C) By describing Dana as big and Roy as small
D) By switching between past tense and present tense
Question 6 of 10
The soles of the boy's feet 'looked as black as barbecue coals'. What does this simile suggest?
A) The boy has been walking through a barbecue fire
B) The boy's feet are burnt and painful
C) The boy has been running barefoot for a long time, so his soles are hardened and blackened
D) The boy has been painting his feet black to look cool
Question 7 of 10
Roy 'hoped to catch another glimpse' of the boy. What does this reveal about Roy's character?
A) He is naturally curious and observant, drawn to things that are unusual
B) He is bored on the bus and has nothing else to look at
C) He wants to report the boy to the school for not wearing shoes
D) He wants to make friends with the boy because he is lonely
Question 8 of 10
The boy ran 'past the corner, past the queue of students... past the bus itself'. What technique is the author using and what effect does it create?
A) Alliteration — the 'p' sounds make the passage feel poetic
B) Onomatopoeia — 'past' sounds like someone running
C) Personification — the bus is being given human qualities
D) Repetition — the repeated 'past' creates a sense of speed and builds excitement as the boy runs further
Question 9 of 10
Why does the author compare the barefoot boy's speed to Richard, Roy's friend back in Montana?
A) To show that Roy misses his old friend
B) To give the reader a benchmark — if the boy is faster than a high-school-level runner, he is extraordinarily fast
C) To show that Roy thinks about Montana too much
D) To prove that the barefoot boy should join the running team
Question 10 of 10
How does the author create a sense of mystery throughout this passage?
A) By telling us exactly who the boy is and where he is going
B) By using long, complicated sentences that are hard to understand
C) By giving us lots of visual details about the boy but no explanation of who he is or why he is running
D) By having Roy solve the mystery at the end of the passage