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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What words are painted underneath the portrait painted on the bottom of Isabel's boat?
(a) Never say die.
(b) Seek sanctuary.
(c) Fight against the impossible and win.
(d) Cuba Libre.

2. When Mahmoud's family receives the name of a nearby hotel that "accepts Syrians" (105), why do they not stay there?
(a) They cannot find it and eventually give up.
(b) It is too expensive.
(c) It is in a dangerous neighborhood.
(d) It is already full of other families sharing rooms.

3. When Mahmoud and his family meet the smuggler at the designated meeting point, when does he say the boat will leave?
(a) Next week.
(b) Right now.
(c) In an hour.
(d) Tomorrow.

4. What show is Waleed watching when the family's apartment is destroyed by a missile?
(a) Teletubbies.
(b) Power Rangers.
(c) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
(d) The Smurfs.

5. Who takes on the role of being "in charge of the boat" (81) on which Isabel and her family are traveling?
(a) Luis.
(b) Lito.
(c) Ivan.
(d) Señor Castillo.

6. When Josef's ship slows down, causing his father to think that the ship is being turned around, what is the true cause of the change in speed?
(a) A funeral at sea.
(b) An approaching storm.
(c) An approaching tanker.
(d) A man who has been reported missing.

7. What is Josef's father's profession at the start of the novel?
(a) Reporter.
(b) Tailor.
(c) Doctor.
(d) Lawyer.

8. What does Isabel give the fisherman in return for gasoline to power Ivan's family's boat?
(a) Mofongo.
(b) A coat.
(c) A backpack.
(d) A trumpet.

9. Contrary to the truth, what does Ivan tell Isabel that he and his father are building in their garage?
(a) A doghouse.
(b) A birdhouse.
(c) A skateboard ramp.
(d) A ping pong table.

10. Whose face is featured prominently on the floor of Isabel's boat?
(a) Fidel Castro.
(b) Joseph Stalin.
(c) Pablo Escobar.
(d) Che Guevara.

11. What is the name of the ship Josef's family's boards?
(a) MS St. Croix.
(b) MS St. Lawrence.
(c) MS St. Cyprian.
(d) MS St. Louis.

12. When Ivan says that one thing he wants to do in America is watch American television, what show does he cite?
(a) Seinfeld.
(b) Wheel of Fortune.
(c) The Simpsons.
(d) South Park.

13. What shared characteristic had bonded the Soviet Union to Cuba prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union?
(a) Communism.
(b) Egalitarianism.
(c) Socialism.
(d) Democracy.

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

15. How many Jewish men must gather to form a minyan in order to comply with Jewish law in the holding of a bar mitzvah?
(a) At least 22.
(b) At least 10.
(c) At least 7.
(d) At least 5.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do Mahmoud and his brother Waleed do when they see two boys robbing another boy of a loaf of bread?

2. Isabel knows that Ivan and his father are actually building a boat in order to travel where?

3. What reason does Isabel's father give for forbidding anyone to strike a match even though their boat is about to be hit by a tanker?

4. Prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union, most farms in Cuba had been what type of farms?

5. When the narrative rejoins Josef in 1939, each member of the family is now wearing what item?

(see the answer keys)

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