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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 did Antonina feed the Guests that she passed off as pheasant?

2. What did the director of the slaughterhouse want to turn the zoo into?

3. What does Rys mean in Polish?

4. What kind of animal was Rys's pet named Morys?

5. What did Antonina send with Jan to deliver when he went into the Ghetto to collect scraps to feed the pigs?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why was Antonina glad Rys was not with her when she travelled back to the country home after visiting Jan in Warsaw?

2. Why did Wanda and Adam Englert divorce?

3. Why did the Resistance use cryptonyms?

4. How does the author describe the sounds of the zoo in the morning before the war?

5. Why did Lutz Heck want to re-create the aurochs?

6. Why were Jan and Antonina so frightened when they witnessed a trolley being bombed?

7. How did Antonina describe her friend Magdalena?

8. What was unusual about the baby badger that Antonina raised?

9. Why was Antonina shocked by what Lutz Heck said about Germany’s chances of the war?

10. Why did Jan feel such a strong connection with the Jews?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay describing how the author develops the theme of what makes a house a home. How does Antonina make the villa a home even after the war starts? How does she make the schoolhouse a home?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay explaining the author’s choice to write about modern-day Poland in the final chapter. What purpose does this serve? What message does the author hope to leave readers with?

Essay Topic 3

Explain the importance of codenames to the Underground. Why do they use them? What do the names reveal about the people they are chosen for? Provide examples of codenames and explain their meanings.

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