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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. To what type of structure does the boy lead Mahmoud and his family?
(a) To an abandoned shopping mall.
(b) To a bus depot.
(c) To an abandoned hospital.
(d) To a library.

2. Then narrator describes the fast-approaching tanker heading toward Isabel's boat as eventually getting so loud that it sounds like a what?
(a) A tornado.
(b) A stream of freeway traffic.
(c) A hurricane.
(d) A jet engine.

3. What happens to halt the song being sung by the occupants of Isabel's boat?
(a) Isabel shouts that she sees a shark.
(b) The boat's motor splutters and dies.
(c) Ivan shouts that he sees a boat on the horizon.
(d) Lita tells them all to hush so she can think.

4. What is the age difference between Isabel and Ivan?
(a) Ivan is one year older than Isabel.
(b) Ivan is two years older than Isabel.
(c) Isabel is two years older than Ivan.
(d) Isabel is one year older than Ivan.

5. For what reason has Josef's family recently moved to a smaller apartment in Berlin upon the opening of the novel?
(a) Due to recently-enacted Nazi laws.
(b) Due to an altercation with the landlord of the previous apartment.
(c) Due to Josef's father losing his job.
(d) Due to their previous apartment being destroyed by a missile.

Short Answer Questions

1. In order to avail themselves of the smuggler's help, Mahmoud and his family must first make it to what city on the coast of Turkey?

2. When Mahmoud's family arrives in the refugee camp in Turkey, Mahmoud's father reveals that he has found a smuggler who can get family from Turkey to what country?

3. What shared characteristic had bonded the Soviet Union to Cuba prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union?

4. What item falls out of Josef's pocket and is stomped on by a member of the Hitler Youth?

5. How does Isabel's father sustain the wounds that she is cleaning when the narrative rejoins her?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Isabel's kitten used by the author to send a message about hunger and fear?

2. List some of Isabel's and the other boat passengers' expectations of what life will be like in America.

3. Of everyone in Mahmoud's family, who comes the closest to losing his or her life when the apartment is hit by a missile?

4. How does the author go about portraying Mahmoud as an empathetic soul?

5. How is irony employed within the author's choice of the material that lines Isabel's boat?

6. Why does Mahmoud's family choose Germany as a place to run to when they leave Syria?

7. How does Mahmoud feel about invisibility?

8. When Isabel and Ivan are incredulous that Lito had had many chances to leave Cuba over the years and had not done so, what reasons does Lito give for not leaving?

9. Why does Isabel feel awe in response to the riots in Cuba in addition to fear?

10. What is the clave?

(see the answer keys)

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