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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. The narrator states that Isabel had been so close to Ivan that he felt to her more like a what than like a best friend?
(a) A cousin.
(b) A brother.
(c) A guardian angel.
(d) An uncle.

2. 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?
(a) Too many of them had lost loved ones in the sea on the way over.
(b) They know that the most dangerous leg of the trip is still to come.
(c) They have heard that Greece has decided to return all Syrian refugees to Syria.
(d) They are too tired to do much of anything.

3. Who sews Ruthie's stuffed bunny back together before she can see it headless?
(a) Otto Scheindick.
(b) Captain Schroeder.
(c) Josef.
(d) Josef's mother.

4. The narrator remarks that despite the number of dead bodies Mahmoud has seen, the experience of "seeing death" (180) never stops being what?
(a) Horrifying.
(b) Deadening.
(c) Sad.
(d) Alarming.

5. What island is the intended destination when Mahmoud and his family set out on the rubber dinghy?
(a) Lesbos.
(b) Cypress.
(c) Athens.
(d) Sicily.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is NOT one thing Josef realizes just after his father's rescue from the ocean?

2. After whom is Josef named?

3. When it gets too dark to navigate, what strategy does Isabel advocate for?

4. Where does Josef's mother take Ruthie so that she can enact her plan to calm her husband?

5. Just before Mahmoud tumbles from the boat into the sea, someone at the front of the dinghy yells that he sees what objects?

Short Essay Questions

1. What shocking detail does Mahmoud's father reveal to his family once they have been thrown into the water by their dinghy's destruction on the rocks?

2. Why does Isabel not want to look at the face of her dead best friend Ivan?

3. 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?

4. What is Josef's mother's plan for procuring a sleeping potion to help calm her husband Aaron down?

5. What is the reason given for the firemen on the ship engaging in bad behavior while the ship is docked in Cuba and what are they said to be doing?

6. How does Josef's mother's plan for getting a sleeping potion for her husband Aaron go awry?

7. What details does Isabel remember about her grandmother Lita's death?

8. For what reason does Dr. Aber, the father of Renata and Evelyne, tell the girls to disembark from the ship without bringing any of their belongings?

9. What does Isabel mean when she thinks that "Fidel Castro has Ivan's blood all over him" (224)?

10. 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?

(see the answer keys)

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