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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. About what do the children tease Mr. Rosenthal?

2. What violates Nazi ideology?

3. What do the narrator and Friedrich think about the landlord's demand?

4. In what language is the dinner ceremony conducted?

5. What has the narrator's father encouraged him to do?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are the indications that the narrator's family is not as well to do as Friedich's family?

2. What indications are there that Friedrich and his mother enjoy a good relationship?

3. What does Friedrich do after the verdict and what is the judge's response? Why do you think Friedrich responds the way he does?

4. Explain the situation with Frau Penk and why she gives up her position with Mrs. Schneider.

5. How does Friedrich's relationship with his mother contrast to that of the narrator's relationship with his mother?

6. Describe Friedrich's preparations for his first visit to a meeting of the Jungvolk.

7. Do you think Herr Schneider should have listened to the narrator's father about leaving Germany?

8. What may be foreshadowing a future of terror and death for Jews?

9. What is ominous about the image of Herr Schneider coming down the street and the news he brings?

10. What sort of celebration is there on the first day of school?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The chapter titled "Jungvolk" is very significant in that if the young can be influenced and changed, significant social changes can take place in a country almost overnight. Choose one of the following questions and write a well-developed, cohesive essay using examples from the text and your research or personal experience:

1. Once Hitler has the young people "in his pocket," he is well on his way to controlling Germany. Write an essay either agreeing or disagreeing with this statement, giving specific reasons and examples.

2. Not too long ago in the United States, President Obama addressed the youth in the schools in the nation as a whole. Discuss this situation, why some people were opposed to President Obama doing so, and any similarities between the novel, Friedrich, and that situation.

3. Bob Dylan wrote and released a song around 1963 titled, "The Times They Are a-Changin'." How are the lyrics to this song applicable to what is happening in 1930s Germany?

Essay Topic 2

In the chapter, "The Way to School," we see not the first evidence of the growing violence towards Jews, but the most overt one in the book so far. Choose one of the following questions and write a well-developed, cohesive essay using examples from the text and your research or personal experience:

1. Hitler calls for a one-day boycott of Jewish businesses on Saturday, April 1, 1933; this chapter is probably based upon that proclamation. Learn what you can about this boycott and write an essay telling about how widespread it was, the consequences of it, and if it was considered successful.

2. Friedrich and the narrator are only about eight years old and do not understand the hatred and fears of adults. They greet Mr. Rosenthal, a shop owner whose shop is being blocked by a man with a swastika armband. What can we learn from children about accepting differences? What if very young children of the Arab and Western and Israeli worlds got together (before they are too strongly influenced by adults)? What do you think would happen? Would they share their toys? Would they be hateful because someone is of a different race or religion, etc.? Write a speculative essay about what children can teach adults about accepting others.

3. How effective in general are boycotts? Research the history of boycotts and choose several to study and compare and contrast.

Essay Topic 3

In the chapter titled, "The Teacher," Teacher Neudorf gives the students a brief account of the persecution of the Jews over the centuries. Answer the following questions and write a well-developed, cohesive essay using examples from the text and your research or personal experience:

1. Why do you think Teacher Neudort knows so much about the history of the Jews? Do you think he studied Jewish history in order to cull through the lies and propaganda of the Nazi party?

2. After reading the brief history of the Jewish people in this chapter, did it change your perception of the Jewish people? If you are Jewish, how accurate does this history seem to you and how do you feel about what Teacher Neudort says?

3. After the brief enumeration of Jewish history, Neudort asks the students how Jews could be anything but crafty and sly, when everyone wants to torment them. How can they not be avaricious and deceitful when they never know when they will be robbed and dispossessed again? Does this seem to be suggesting that Neudort believes the stereotypes about the Jewish people but seems to think the Jews are justified in their shortcomings? Can an entire group of people all be crafy, sly, avaricious and deceitful? Does Neudort in a way just add to the students' prejudice of Jews?

(see the answer keys)

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