Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-8

Reading Check

1. What has Yanek built?

2. What are Yanek’s three favorite types of books to read?

3. Where do Yanek and his father sneak to during the night?

4. Where do Yanek and his parents move to in Chapter 5?

5. What is a bar mitzvah?

6. How many Jews do the Nazis want to resettle from Yanek’s ghetto?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Describe some of the changes that Yanek witnesses after the Germans invade Kraków.

2. Compare and contrast Yanek’s father’s response and Uncle Moshe’s response to Nazi Germany’s invasion of Kraków.

3. What is a ghetto? Describe how Yanek’s neighborhood becomes a ghetto in Kraków.

4. Describe Yanek’s new living situation after the establishment of the ghetto. Where does Yanek spend his time?

5. Describe the dilemma Yanek and his family face in Chapter 7. What do they decide to do?

Paired Resource

“The Kraków Ghetto During the Holocaust”

• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website overview of the ghetto in Kraków
• Based on the novel as well as the above resource, describe how the city of Kraków was impacted by the Nazi invasion.