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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. Why is Lito alarmed when a passenger shoots at the sharks in the water with his pistol?
(a) Lito is worried that in his anger, Luis will hit a passenger by mistake.
(b) Lito is worried that the sharks' blood will bring a greater number of sharks.
(c) Lito does not want the group to waste their bullets.
(d) Lito thinks that Luis looks like he is having a mental breakdown.

2. Where does Josef's mother take Ruthie so that she can enact her plan to calm her husband?
(a) To the pool.
(b) To the library.
(c) To a puppet show.
(d) To the gymnasium.

3. After robbing Mahmoud's family at gunpoint, what does the taxi driver order the family to do?
(a) To give him their coats.
(b) To work together to dig a ditch.
(c) To get out of the cab.
(d) To say nothing to the police.

4. When Isabel and her family finally reach land and believe they have reached Florida, where have they landed instead?
(a) The Bahamas.
(b) Puerto Rico.
(c) Turks and Caicos.
(d) The Dominican Republic.

5. How long does it take Josef's ship to sail from Havana to within viewing distance of Miami?
(a) Less than forty-eight hours.
(b) Less than six hours.
(c) Less than a day.
(d) Less than two hours.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Mami say it is time for, once she puts a stop to the brewing argument on the boat?

2. What phrase does Mahmoud think to himself over and over once he is hit by tear gas at the hands of Hungarian soldiers?

3. To whom does Mahmoud give the deceased man's life jacket?

4. When Josef's father Aaron barricades the door of the family's cabin, what is Josef's mother's plan to calm him?

5. What kind of engine is powering Isabel's boat?

Short Essay Questions

1. For what purpose does Josef leave his father Aaron alone in the family's cabin when his mother is asleep?

2. What shocking detail does Mahmoud's father reveal to his family once they have been thrown into the water by their dinghy's destruction on the rocks?

3. What change occurs in Josef's mother's personality once the MS St. Louis leaves Cuba?

4. How do Mahmoud and his family reach the Serbian border on their journey fleeing Syria?

5. What plans for his life in Florida does Señor Castillo reveal to the remaining passengers in the boat after Ivan's death?

6. For what reason does Dr. Aber, the father of Renata and Evelyne, tell the girls to disembark from the ship without bringing any of their belongings?

7. For what reasons does Lito take on the role of leading Ivan's funeral ceremony?

8. How does Mahmoud save his infant sister Hana from drowning after the family's dinghy bursts upon the rocks?

9. On the second day of Isabel's journey, it is said that it seems to Isabel and Ivan that everyone has a job but the two of them. What jobs are being handled by the others?

10. Though the narrator states that a few of the refugees Mahmoud sees when boarding the dinghy have backpacks or plastic bags, how are most of the refugees carrying their belongings?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,279 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample