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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. 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 5.
(c) At least 10.
(d) At least 7.

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

3. Josef's family is traveling on a train in order to get on a ship headed for what country?
(a) Cuba.
(b) Columbia.
(c) The United States.
(d) Germany.

4. Prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union, most farms in Cuba had been what type of farms?
(a) Alfalfa.
(b) Sugarcane.
(c) Rice.
(d) Cattle.

5. How does Isabel's father sustain the wounds that she is cleaning when the narrative rejoins her?
(a) He falls off a ladder at his job.
(b) He is beaten by a mugger.
(c) He is beaten by police.
(d) He is shot in the melee of the riots.

Short Answer Questions

1. The horrific historical event called Kristallnacht means what in the English language?

2. To what type of structure does the boy lead Mahmoud and his family?

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

4. When Josef and the children are below deck during their ship tour, Schiendick and his friends begin to sing a song with anti-Semitic lyrics. What is the subject of the song?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

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

3. How does Josef feel about invisibility?

4. What is the author's purpose for characterizing the Nazis terrorizing Josef's family as "shadows"? (1)

5. What is the clave?

6. How is the the ship Josef's family boards shown by the author to be paradoxical?

7. What happens the first two times Isabel's father tries to journey to America from Cuba?

8. How does Mahmoud feel about invisibility?

9. What is ironic about Josef's feelings following his bar mitzvah?

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

(see the answer keys)

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