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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 long does it take Josef's ship to sail from Havana to within viewing distance of Miami?
(a) Less than a day.
(b) Less than two hours.
(c) Less than forty-eight hours.
(d) Less than six hours.

2. After whom is Josef named?
(a) His godfather.
(b) His father.
(c) His uncle.
(d) His grandfather.

3. In what activity are Isabel and the other boat passengers engaging when Ivan is attacked by a shark?
(a) They are trying to decide what to tell the authorities in Florida.
(b) They are composing a song about the journey.
(c) They are trying to name the boat.
(d) They are planning Ivan's upcoming birthday.

4. When Isabel searches for Ivan's Industriales hat, where does she find it?
(a) In Senora Castillo's hand.
(b) Floating in the water next to the boat.
(c) Under a bench on the boat.
(d) Tangled up in a sweatshirt.

5. Why is Lito alarmed when a passenger shoots at the sharks in the water with his pistol?
(a) Lito is worried that in his anger, Luis will hit a passenger by mistake.
(b) Lito is worried that the sharks' blood will bring a greater number of sharks.
(c) Lito does not want the group to waste their bullets.
(d) Lito thinks that Luis looks like he is having a mental breakdown.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Isabel's boat is sinking and all the passengers are bailing furiously, what kind of craft approaches them suddenly?

2. When Isabel first sees the lights of Miami, what does she think she is seeing instead?

3. In the moments after Isabel and the other passengers see Miami, what event happens?

4. Who takes charge of performing the memorial service for Ivan before his body must be buried at sea?

5. When Mahmoud and his family finally reach Greece, no one is celebrating and Mahmoud says he knows why. What reason does Mahmoud give for the refugees' lack of celebration?

Short Essay Questions

1. For what purpose does Josef leave his father Aaron alone in the family's cabin when his mother is asleep?

2. On the second day of Isabel's journey, it is said that it seems to Isabel and Ivan that everyone has a job but the two of them. What jobs are being handled by the others?

3. What change occurs in Josef's mother's personality once the MS St. Louis leaves Cuba?

4. Though the narrator states that a few of the refugees Mahmoud sees when boarding the dinghy have backpacks or plastic bags, how are most of the refugees carrying their belongings?

5. Whenever Mahmoud or his father wonder where Mahmoud's mother is, where do they inevitably find her and what is she doing?

6. What reaction do the other passengers of the MS St. Louis have to Renata and Evelyne being allowed to leave the ship to join their father?

7. When Isabel realizes that each part of the journey has been like the verse of a song, what results does she come up with when thinking of the various verses the song would include?

8. What happens to Mahmoud's family on the way from Belgrade to the Hungarian border?

9. How does Mahmoud save his infant sister Hana from drowning after the family's dinghy bursts upon the rocks?

10. What plans for his life in Florida does Señor Castillo reveal to the remaining passengers in the boat after Ivan's death?

(see the answer keys)

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