The Parker Inheritance

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which is the best description of Candice?

A) Curious and blunt

B) Empathetic and shy

C) Confident and smart

D) Impulsive and witty

2. How does Candice change over the course of the story?

A) She learns the value of honesty.

B) She becomes a braver person.

C) She gains better control of her emotions.

D) She becomes a more loving person.

3. What is Candice’s main reason for wanting to solve the mystery?

A) She hopes to find enough money to go to college.

B) She wants to clear her grandmother’s name.

C) She wants the town to pay for what it did to the Washingtons.

D) She is trying to distract herself from her parents’ divorce.

4. What does the novel imply is the secret that Brandon is struggling with?

A) He might be gay.

B) He cannot read.

C) He is very ill.

D) He is being abused.

5. What do details like his using the nickname “Candi” and questioning Candice about a romantic interest in Brandon imply is true about Candice’s father, Joe?

A) He has a strange sense of humor and does not understand others’ feelings.

B) He is a callous person who does not really care about Candice’s feelings.

C) He misses Candice and is trying to be more involved in her life.

D) He is having trouble accepting Candice getting older and more independent.

6. Which character’s story is featured at the beginning and end of the novel?

A) Enoch’s

B) Abigail’s

C) Reggie’s

D) Siobhan’s

7. How does Enoch react to the racist environment he lives in?

A) He simply ignores it, choosing to believe in a better future.

B) He tries to get to know more white people and gain their favor.

C) He often chooses to provoke the racist white men around him.

D) He joins a civil rights organization and works to change society.

8. Who is most responsible for helping Candice become an expert puzzle-solver?

A) Abigail

B) Joe

C) Anne

D) Brandon

9. Which is the best description of James Parker?

A) Empathetic and kind

B) Bitter and lonely

C) Angry and dangerous

D) Humble and gentle

10. Which of the following is a motif used throughout the novel?

A) Clothing and possessions

B) Animals and nature

C) Letters and books

D) Machines and industry

11. What do Siobhan and Reggie’s relationship, The Westing Game, and James Parker’s plans for the inheritance all have in common?

A) Sacrificing for love

B) Betrayal and greed

C) The search for money

D) Puzzles and riddles

12. When characters in the novel repeatedly point out that the path ahead is still there, even when we cannot see it, what are they advising people to change?

A) Their circumstances

B) Their religious faith

C) Their behavior and choices

D) Their perspective

13. Which event most clearly supports the novel’s concern with the way racism can be a catalyst for conflict?

A) The tennis match

B) Abigail’s firing

C) The Parker inheritance

D) Milo and Brandon’s fight

14. Which thematic motif do Reggie, Brandon, and Joe’s storylines most clearly support?

A) The way changing one’s approach to a problem can help solve it

B) The costs of hiding one’s identity in order to fit in and stay safe

C) The differing impacts of revenge, justice, and forgiveness

D) The corrosive impact racism has on community and society

15. Which statement is most clearly supported by the novel’s plot?

A) Both justice and forgiveness are necessary if we want to move forward after an injustice.

B) Forgiveness is a weak response to injustice and encourages more injustices to occur.

C) Sometimes pursuing justice means accepting people’s natural desire for revenge.

D) People’s feelings and motivations do not matter as much as making sure justice is done.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. How does the bracelet in this story serve as a symbol of faith and connection?

2. Describe Anne Miller as a parent.