Quiz Guide for The Devil's Arithmetic

Chapter 1-4

1. Why was Hannah's younger brother scared?
2. For whom is Hannah named?
3. When Hannah was younger what did she do that she thought would please her Grandpa Will?
4. What happens after Hannah says, "Ready or not, here I come?"
5. On what does Hannah blame this daydream-like scene?
6. Where is Hannah and with whom?
7. By what name do these people call Hannah?
   

Chapters 5-7

1. What does Gitl tell Hannah to wear to the wedding and how does Hannah feel about it?
2. Where does Hannah tell the girls she goes during the week that they find unbelievable?
3. Why are the local girls shocked to hear Rachel's account of Shmuel and Fayge's courtship?
4. What is a badchan?

Chapters 8-10

1. How does Fayge treat Hannah (Chaya) her soon-to-be-niece?
2. Tell what the wedding party sees upon gaining an open view of the village?
3. What does the badchan say about whom he sees?
4. What does Hannah tell the rabbi to try to get him to turn back? How does he respond?
5. How do the truckloads of Jews attempt to calm their fears on the way to resettlement?
6. What is the first thing the Jews notice upon their arrival at the train station?

Chapters 11-13

1. Describe the conditions of the boxcars and the length of time spent in them.
2. What message adorned the iron gates of the camp?
3. Why is Hannah made to surrender her blue hair ribbons?
4. Why does Hannah decide not to say anymore about what she remembers about the Holocaust,
   especially the showers?
5. What command does Hannah impose upon herself to numb the shock?
6. What distressing information does the man who tattoos Hannah give her?
7. Why doesn't Gitl want Hannah to touch Tzipporah upon waking the next morning?
8. What instructions are the zugangi given pertaining to the bowls they are issued?
   

Chapters 14-16

1. Rivka shares the rules she follows to stay alive at the camp one day at a time. What are they?
2. How does Rivka explain her numbers?
3. What is “Lilith’s Cave”?
4. What is the signal for the young children that the commandant is coming?
5. Explain Rivka's definition of The Devil's Arithmetic.
6. The night she finds out her father has been chosen, Fayge finally speaks to the girls. What is
   her story about?

Chapters 17-Epilogue

1. What was the plan and who was included?
2. How did Fayge react to Shmuel's impending punishment?
3. What did Hannah notice about the Kommando that carried Fayge's body to Lilith's
   Cave?
4. What was Hannah trying to tell the girls when the new guard confronted them?
5. How does Hannah change the course of events?
6. After she sits down at the laden table with her family, at what does Hannah stare?
7. What does Emmanuel Ringelblum, Jewish historian, claim were the only victories of the
   camps?
8. When the camp was liberated in 1945, who were the survivors?

Questions stolen from Beth McCaskey's language arts blog