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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 is their first meal in the homeland?

2. Where is the red light that Hideyo sees coming from?

3. What was father's name seal made of?

4. How does eating so many mushrooms effect Hideyo?

5. How has the janitor at Yoko's school changed in Chapter 8?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why do you think Yoko would choose to write about her experiences at school rather than the ordeal she and her family endured when leaving Korea?

2. How does Ko demonstrate the importance of respect in Japanese culture?

3. In order to survive for as long as Hideyo has in the conditions he has endured, what character traits do you think he possesses?

4. What rituals and traditions do Yoko and Ko perform in honor of New Year's? What significance do they have?

5. How does Ko continue to demonstrate her survival instincts in Chapter 9?

6. Describe the emotions Ko and Yoko experience in the first few pages of Chapter 9.

7. What motivates Hideyo to press on as he struggles through the storm?

8. Why does Yoko find it hard to believe that the corporal has found her and Ko?

9. Why do you think Hideyo is so attached to Yoko's fur coat?

10. What evidence is there that deep down, Ko is still a young girl?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Aside from physically being so far from the bamboo grove, how are Yoko and her family symbolically so far from it? In other words, what does the bamboo grove symbolize for them?

Essay Topic 2

There are many supporting characters in the book who are essential to Yoko's and Ko's survival. Choose three of these characters and describe how they were instrumental in the girls' survival. Also discuss why, in a time of war, these people were willing to go out of their way to help others.

Essay Topic 3

How do the main characters deal with the tragedies and atrocities inherently related to war?

(see the answer keys)

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