Name the Theme
Identify the Motif
Name of Minor Character
Identify the narrative (e.g. Isabel, Mahmoud, or Josef)
Literary Terms
100

"[Isabel] found Senor Castillo's body in the dark, wrapped her arms around him, and kicked as hard as she could for the surface."

What is courage?

100

"'We're against whoever is dropping the bombs on us.' . . Mahmoud breathed again with relief.  Waleed didn't know it, but he'd saved the day."

What is out of the mouth of babes?

100

diminutive captain

Who is Gustav Schroeder?

100

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Who is Mahmoud?

100

An element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature-- often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book or play.

What is a motif?

200

"But maybe this is what becoming a man is, Joseph thought.  Maybe being a man means not relying on your father anymore."

What is coming of age?

200

An irregular rhythm that lay over the top of the regular beat, like the heartbeat beneath the skin.

clave

200

Isabel's father's proper name

Who is Mariano Padron?

200

Gestapo

Who is Joself?

200

the central, unifying idea or underlying message that a work of literature explores, conveyed through elements like plot, characters, and setting

What is the theme?

300

The things he said he saw--Josef couldn't even imagine.  His father had only survived by staying quiet.  By not drawing attention to himself.  But now he was going to get them sent away.

Invisibility/Disappear

300

 "Tomorrow, hopefully," Senor Castillo said from inside the boat.  It was the same thing he'd said yesterday, and the day before that.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, manana, etc.

300

He of the bulbous nose.

Who is Otto Schiendick?

300

"We can't go back in . . . they'll come for us and take us away!"

Who is Josef.

300

Where action takes place--sometimes their are several in a single chapter.

What is setting?

400

"Josef stood in wonder as another sailor--a German man without a Star of David armband, a man who wasn't a Jew--put a suitcase under each arm and one in each hand and led them up the gangway.  He treated them like real passangers.  Like real people."

What is the kindness of strangers ?

400

"There is no food to feed the baby anyway," Isabel said.  There's no food for any of us, and no money to buy it with if their was some.  But there is food in the States.  And freedom.  And work" (44).

What is "Out of the mouths of babes."

400

President of Syria.

Who is Assad?

400

Wet foot, dry foot.

Who is Isabel?

400

A descent, a part of a journey where information is gained, something is retrieved, or opposition is confronted.

What is the journey to the underworld?

500

"But in the past six months, Josef and his father had traded places.  Papa was the once acting like a child, and Josef was the adult" (133).

What is identity -- or coming of age ?

500

"Remember, God, that we are dust." One by one they stepped to the rail, where they released handfuls of sand--the sand Josef's father had told him to take from the sandbox.  Josef joined his father at the rail, and they scattered their sand in the sea.

What is ceremony?

500

Teacher who exhibited Josef as a "specimen."

Who is Herr Meier?

500

bound up in a white sailcloth, like an Egyptian pharaoh.

Who is Josef?

500

An expanded and elaborated metaphor/similie.

What is a conceit?