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 1-3

Reading Check

1. Where does the story take place?

2. What is the punishment for looting?

Short Answer

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

1. Who is Kolya and why is he a prisoner with Lev?

2. How does the colonel offer Lev and Kolya a chance at freedom?

Paired Resource

NKVD

• This 13-minute video describes the NKVD (the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs) and its function during World War II.
• What are the different duties the NKVD perform for the Soviet Union? How were some people victimized by the NKVD? How is this video related to the novel’s theme of War and Survival?

Chapters 4-6

Reading Check

1. What is troubling about the man and his wife who claim to have eggs for Lev and Koyla?

2. What happened to the building Lev lives in?

Short Answer

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

1. Why don’t Lev and Kolya attempt to escape the NKVD rather than find the eggs?

2. Why does Lev feel guilty after escaping the cannibals?

Paired Resource

Cannibalism During the Siege of Leningrad