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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 Isabel and the others are getting ready to start their journey in the boat, two police officers run toward them. Who do they turn out to be?
(a) Ivan's sister and her boyfriend.
(b) Ivan's aunt and uncle.
(c) Ivan's cousins.
(d) Ivan's brother and his girlfriend.

2. In what year does Isabel's narrative from Havana, Cuba begin?
(a) 2001.
(b) 1983.
(c) 1994.
(d) 1959.

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

4. The horrific historical event called Kristallnacht means what in the English language?
(a) The night of reverence.
(b) The night of hopelessness.
(c) The night of broken glass.
(d) The night of pointy reckonings.

5. Isabel knows that Ivan and his father are actually building a boat in order to travel where?
(a) To the Dominican Republic.
(b) To Canada.
(c) To the United States.
(d) To Mexico.

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. When Isabel's narrative opens, she is trying to coax a kitten out from hiding using what type of food?

3. When a boy offers to show Mahmoud and his family somewhere they can sleep, how much money does he charge them for the information?

4. What does Isabel give the fisherman in return for gasoline to power Ivan's family's boat?

5. 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?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Josef feel about invisibility?

2. Of everyone in Mahmoud's family, who comes the closest to losing his or her life when the apartment is hit by a missile?

3. Why does Mahmoud's family choose Germany as a place to run to when they leave Syria?

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

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

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

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

8. What are the only items that Isabel and the other passengers on the tiny boat have room to bring with them on the journey to Florida from Cuba?

9. How is Isabel's kitten used by the author to send a message about hunger and fear?

10. How does Mahmoud feel about invisibility?

(see the answer keys)

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