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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. When Josef overhears two stewards talking about racing other boats to Cuba, how many other boats do they say are traveling their route?
(a) 8.
(b) 11.
(c) 5.
(d) 2.

2. 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.

3. To what concentration camp is Josef's father sent whee he is taken into "protective custody" (3)?
(a) Buchenwald.
(b) Auschwitz.
(c) Bergen-Belsen.
(d) Dachau.

4. When Mahmoud's family arrives in the refugee camp in Turkey, Mahmoud's father reveals that he has found a smuggler who can get family from Turkey to what country?
(a) Greece.
(b) Bulgaria.
(c) Armenia.
(d) Iraq.

5. Risking his life by running through gunfire back to the car, Mahmoud's father retrieves what object from the car?
(a) A cell phone.
(b) A flashlight.
(c) A gun.
(d) A stuffed rabbit.

Short Answer Questions

1. When regretting the family's decision to leave Cuba, Lito says that "The US has no" (101) what?

2. When Mahmoud and his family meet the smuggler at the designated meeting point, when does he say the boat will leave?

3. In what year does Isabel's narrative from Havana, Cuba begin?

4. Who takes Josef and the other children on a tour of the ship?

5. How does Isabel's father sustain the wounds that she is cleaning when the narrative rejoins her?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

5. What U.S. policies change and make it harder for Cuban people to seek refuge in the United States?

6. How is irony employed within the author's choice of the material that lines Isabel's boat?

7. Why do Josef and the other kids on the ship tour become uneasy when they hear some members of the crew singing "The Horst Wessel Song" (95)?

8. What revelation does Lito make to Isabel about Miami, Florida, at one moment in the journey?

9. Why does Isabel feel awe in response to the riots in Cuba in addition to fear?

10. What event is just about to happen when the motor of Isabel's family's boat splutters and dies?

(see the answer keys)

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