Once

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which phrase best represents how Felix feels about the prospect of leaving the orphanage?

A) Concerned he will lose his Catholic faith

B) Aware he will most likely miss the nuns

C) Fearful of the outside world

D) Anxious about finding out his parents are dead

2. Which word best describes access to food in the orphanage?

A) Abundant

B) Plentiful

C) Monotonous

D) Scarce

3. Why does Felix think the group of men is burning books outside the orphanage?

A) To censor information

B) To reorganize the library

C) To introduce pro-Nazi books

D) To make life in the orphanage more difficult

4. Which piece of information does Jankiel choose not to tell Felix?

A) That the Nazis are burning books

B) That his parents are not coming back for him

C) That the Nazis are persecuting Jews

D) That he will miss Felix

5. What does Felix’s interaction with the pig shortly after leaving the orphanage reveal about his nature?

A) He is compassionate.

B) He is insincere.

C) He is irrational.

D) He is cruel.

6. What does Felix do to support his friends through difficult times?

A) He knits them scarves.

B) He sings traditional Jewish songs.

C) He tells them imaginative stories.

D) He makes funny jokes.

7. What conclusion does Felix reach after he and Zelda are forced to join the people marching toward the city?

A) That his parents are no longer alive

B) That the Nazis are targeting Jews as a people

C) That he is related to Zelda

D) That Zelda’s parents are waiting for them in the city

8. As Felix walks with Zelda, he realizes that his “imagination is as tired and hungry as [his] body, and [his] shirt’s wet and [he is] worried [his] notebook is getting ruined.” Which literary device does Felix use in this quote?

A) Metaphor

B) Allegory

C) Allusion

D) Personification

9. Which word best describes how Felix feels during the time he is living in the cellar and letting Barney take care of him?

A) Relieved

B) Ashamed

C) Frustrated

D) Delighted

10. After learning the truth about where the Jewish people in the ghetto were being led, Felix laments, “I never want to hear another story. I never want to write another story. I never want to read another book. What good have books ever done me and Mum and Dad? We’d have been better off with guns.” Which literary device does Felix use in this quote?

A) Allusion

B) Parallelism

C) Personification

D) Alliteration

11. Which phrase best describes Felix’s motivation for returning Zelda’s locket?

A) To teach her the importance of keeping valuable items safe

B) To remind her how much her parents loved her

C) To save her from impending death

D) To give a special memento of their time together

12. On the train, Felix gives an elderly passenger some of his notebook paper to use as toilet paper. Which word best describes this moment?

A) Luxury

B) Pride

C) Apathy

D) Dignity

13. What does the removal and destruction of books in the novel most exemplify?

A) Fascism

B) Censorship

C) Communism

D) Propaganda

14. Through the first half of the novel, which phrase best describes Felix’s perception of his parents’ whereabouts?

A) Accepting of the possibility of their death

B) Uninterested in their status

C) Concerned only for his sister’s safety

D) Rejecting any negative possibilities

15. How does each of the novel’s chapters begin?

A) With a prayer to God

B) With a story that Felix wrote

C) With a quote from a famous Jewish author

D) With the word “Once”

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. Describe the narration style of the book. What do we learn about Felix from his narrative voice?

2. Felix “thanks” which five people throughout the novel? What does this reveal?