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Please answer the following questions and complete the following activities using your book and the
knowledge you acquired from reading this book over the summer. Please use complete sentences where
applicable. Conventions are important so ensure you are using proper spelling, word usage, punctuation,
and capitalization. Please include page numbers for each question referring to where you found your
answer.
Comprehension Questions: You may answer these in short response. You DO NOT have to use complete
sentences.
Chapters One to Five
5. Who first called the new home Out-With and why did they do that?
7. In chapter four, Bruno states his age. How else do you know Bruno is young?
8. What is the tone of chapter four? What occurs in the chapter to set the tone?
9. Why does Mother feel they should never have let the Fury come to dinner?
11. While Bruno is at the train station, he notices two trains separated by a platform. What is the authors
purpose for including this description? How does Bruno feel about the trains?
12. How does Fathers office compare with the rest of the house?
15. How does Father explain the people in the huts in the distance to Bruno?
1. How does Maria respond to Brunos question about living at the new house?
3. Why was Bruno proud of his Father after hearing Marias story?
10. Before he became the familys waiter, what did Pavel do for a living?
11. Why does Mother say shell take credit for mending injury?
12. What was the best part about acting with Grandmother?
14. What does Bruno want to do when he is older? How is this occupation meaningful to the story?
16. Why does Shmuel wish he had a name all his own? Why is this important?
2. Why did Brunos parents argue after their dinner guests left?
4. Why does Bruno decide not to share the news about his new friend with his family?
5. Describe Brunos personality? How does he change from the beginning of the story to this point?
7. Bruno claims his father is one of the good soldiers. Why is his statement ironic?
10. Why does Mother ask Bruno to not use the word hate?
11. What did Lieutenant Kotler do to Pavel? Why didnt anyone help Pavel?
12. Why does Bruno want Shmuel to crawl under the fence?
13. Why does Bruno try to conceal mentioning Shmuel to his sister?
16. Why does Gretel make fun of Bruno? How is her jest ironic?
17. What were some of Brunos reasons for not liking Lieutenant Kotler?
19. How are Brunos hands and Shmuels hands different? Why is this significant?
20. Why is Shmuel afraid to eat the food Bruno has offered?
21. Why didnt Bruno speak up to defend Shmuel?
22. What does Bruno say that finally wins Shmuels acceptance? How does Shmuel show he forgives his
friend?
3. Why would Grandmother be upset about the wreath from the Fury?
8. Why are Father and Gretel silent after Brunos remark about the children behind the fence?
10. Why did Shmuel stay away for so many days? (page 194)
11. How do Bruno and Shmuel plan to play together? (page 199)
12. How does the uniform Shmuel provides remind Bruno of his Grandmother?
13. What did Bruno expect to find behind the fence? What did Bruno discover instead?
14. What kept Bruno from going straight home? (page 208)
15. What does Bruno do and say to comfort Shmuel? (page 212)
19. Why does the author state at the end of the story Of course all of this happened a long time ago and nothing
like that could ever happen again. Not in this day and age?
Vocabulary Questions: Match the vocabulary word with the correct definition by drawing a line.
Vocabulary Multiple Choice: Select the definition that most nearly defines the given word.
21. dismissively
A. showing that you do not believe a person or thing to be important or worth
considering
B. a firm opinion or belief
22. catastrophe
A. exerted a harmful influence
B. an event resulting in great loss and misfortune
23. sneering
A. someone paid to drive a privately owned car
B. raising one corner of the upper lip in an unpleasant way
24. revival
A. dirty and messy; covered with mud or muck
B. bringing again into activity and prominence
25. prospect
A. badly shaped; deformed
B. outlook for the future; anticipation
26. clambered
A. brokenhearted; grief-stricken
B. climbed, using both feet and hands
27. resigned
A. accepted as hopeless or unpleasant
B. an action or behavior that is wild, reckless, and full of adventure
28. mucky
A. to look upon with dislike; to look down upon
B. dirty and messy; covered with mud or muck
29. simpered
A. to smile in a silly or self-conscious manner
B. an event resulting in great loss and misfortune
30. greengrocer
A. a grocer who sells fresh fruits and vegetables
B. bitter remarks intended to wound the feelings
Multiple Choice Questions: Answer the following multiple choice questions. Choose the best answer that best
completes or answers the statement.
A. 12 years old
B. 9 years old
C. 6 years old
D. 14 years old
A. Natalie
B. Marah
C. Gretel
D. Katie
3.What is Ralph?
A. Nazi
B. Baker
C. Fence Builder
D. Jew
A. John Wilkins
B. Harold Sheen
C. Matthew Dunagon
D. John Boyne
A. Boy Scouts
B. Concentration Camp
C. Summer
D. Boot
A. Gas Chamber
B. Starvation
C. Shot
7.What does Bruno's mother take credit for even though she didn't do it?
A. Bruno
B. Gretel
C. Shmuel
D. Barbara
A. Sir
B. Chief
C. Sargent
D. Commandment
23. Through whose eyes does the reader see the story?
A. Gretel's
B. Commandant's
C. Bruno's
D. Shmuel's
Analytical Questions: Answer the following questions in complete sentences. Use page numbers to show where
you found your answer or proof to your answer.
1. Discuss the relationship between Bruno and Gretel. Why does Bruno seem younger than nine? How might
Bruno and Gretel be considered one-dimensional (static characters)?
2. What is it about the house at Out-With that makes Bruno feel "cold and unsafe"? How is this feeling
continued as he encounters people like Pavel, Maria, Lt. Kotler, and Shmuel?
3. Describe his reaction when he first sees the people in the striped pajamas. What does Gretel mean when she
says, "Something about the way [Bruno] was watching made her feel suddenly nervous"? (p. 28) How does this
statement foreshadow Bruno's ultimate demise?
4. Bruno asks his father about the people outside their house at Auschwitz. His father answers, "They're not
people at all Bruno." (p. 53) Discuss the horror of this attitude. How does his father's statement make Bruno
more curious about Out-With?
5. When Bruno and his family board the train for Auschwitz, he notices an over-crowded train headed in the
same direction. How does he later make the connection between Shmuel and that train? How are both trains
symbolic of each boy's final journey?
6. Bruno issues a protest about leaving Berlin. His father responds, "Do you think that I would have made such
a success of my life if I hadn't learned when to argue and when to keep my mouth shut and follow orders?" (p.
49) What question might Bruno's father ask at the end of the novel?
10. When Bruno dresses in the filthy striped pajamas, he remembers something his grandmother once said.
"You wear the right outfit and you feel like the person you're pretending to be." (p, 205) How is this true for
Bruno? What about his father?
11. Discuss the theme or message of the novel. What new insights and understandings does John Boyne want
the reader to gain from reading this story?