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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What song did Antonina play on the piano as a warning signal for the Guests?

2. Which of the following was an entomologist?

3. What print did Antonina prefer for her clothing?

4. What was the name of the rhesus monkey that was stealing babies from other monkeys?

5. What task did Antonina sometimes do in the middle of the night?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Antonina compare herself to a lioness when she was staying with her sister-in-law?

2. What special ability did Antonina have that Jan described as “metaphysical waves”?

3. Why did Lutz Heck hold the shooting part at the zoo on New Year’s Eve?

4. Why were Antonina’s parents killed when she was nine?

5. Why were the Warsaw Zoo’s polar bears shot by Polish soldiers?

6. What was Lutz Heck’s real plan in taking animals from the Warsaw Zoo?

7. What was special about the baby elephant Tuzinka?

8. How did Dr. Muller help Jan return to Warsaw?

9. Why did Wanda and Adam Englert divorce?

10. Why did the Zabinskis frequently invite non-Jewish visitors to the villa?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay explaining the author’s development and use of the theme of courage. What suggestion does the author make about courage? How does she use people to strengthen the theme?

Essay Topic 2

How does Ackerman use enemy soldiers to explore the theme of compassion? Why does she include compassionate acts by the soldiers in the book rather than portraying them as purely evil?

Essay Topic 3

Wicek and Kuba play important roles in the lives of the Zabinskis as well as in Ackerman’s development of themes and statements about human behavior. Write an essay that explains the importance of these animals, how the author uses them to develop themes, and what she suggests about human behavior through these animals.

(see the answer keys)

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