When Stars Are Scattered

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

Multiple Choice

1. Why is Omar worried about being separated from Hassan while he is in school?

A) Fatuma is not always careful with Hassan.

B) He worries Hassan will be taken from the camp.

C) He believes the UN might resettle Hassan without him.

D) They were already separated from their mother.

2. What is the author able to communicate through pictures that might be more difficult to convey through words?

A) Omar’s feelings and beliefs.

B) Hassan’s personality and reactions.

C) Fatuma’s thoughts and movements.

D) The camp’s difficult surroundings.

3. The picture at the beginning of the graphic memoir shows the vast night sky with blurred stars and very little detail or color. What emotion might this image convey for Omar?

A) Loss

B) Hopeful

C) Disappointment

D) Anxiety

4. What does Omar find to be unfair in the camp?

A) The boys are not permitted to play at lunch like others.

B) Hassan has more freedom than Omar.

C) Jeri is selected for resettlement and Omar isn’t.

D) Girls are given more responsibility than boys.

5. What causes Omar’s perspective of Hassan’s disability to change?

A) He learns more about how Hassan’s disability is a gift.

B) Jeri tells him not to underestimate Hassan.

C) Nimo chastises Omar when he behaves cruelly towards Hassan.

D) He attends school and learns Hassan is independent.

6. What is the gift Omar believes he must use?

A) His freedom

B) His protection of Hassan

C) His intelligence

D) His patience

7. What might the reader infer about Jeri’s father?

A) He is cruel and despondent.

B) He lacks the support he needs in parenting.

C) He is unwilling to leave the camp.

D) He is unkind because of his helplessness.

8. What can the reader infer about Omar’s feelings about the camp based on the illustrations?

A) He is grateful to have escaped Somalia.

B) He hopes to assimilate into the camp culture.

C) He wants to leave to find his mother.

D) He feels it is like a prison.

9. How does Omar react while he waits for news from the UN?

A) He bears it with great patience.

B) He leans into his friends for support.

C) He rails against others for the unfairness.

D) He makes attempts to move on with his life.

10. Which scenario best illustrates Hassan’s maturity toward the end of the memoir?

A) He learns to trust his friends and the advice they give him.

B) He avoids being too hopeful about being accepted in America.

C) He begins to take better care of Hassan.

D) He starts to make his own decisions for himself despite the advice he is given.

11. What does Salan’s gift of sand to Omar before his departure symbolize?

A) The statement claiming he is unlikely to be chosen for America

B) The improbability of his graduation from high school

C) The civil war in Somalia

D) The place Omar knew and loved

12. What does Omar mean when he uses the phrase, “One foot in front of the other”?

A) He is explaining how to move forward through opposition.

B) He is telling the reader how he taught Hassan to walk.

C) He is describing his learning process in school.

D) He is describing how he achieves something little by little.

13. What is the symbolic meaning of Hooyo for Hassan?

A) It means mama, referring to his biological mother.

B) It is the love he feels from those around him.

C) It is used to refer to all people in the camp.

D) It represents the shared trauma of the Somalians.

14. What causes Omar to lose empathy for others before learning to regain it?

A) He learns of Nimo’s resettlement.

B) He becomes resentful of his responsibility for Hassan.

C) He struggles with adapting to the refugee camp.

D) He loses his mother while fleeing Somalia.

15. Why might Fatuma have been willing to become a caretaker for Omar and Hassan?

A) She wanted someone to help resettle her in the United States.

B) She felt compelled to find a home for those who were orphaned.

C) She needed Omar’s assistance in caring for her goats.

D) She lost her own children in the war.

Long Answer

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

1. In what ways does Omar feel that his mother, though absent, was with him all along?

2. When Stars Are Scattered explores themes of personal empathy as Omar becomes discouraged about remaining in Dadaab. Why might empathy be important for the reader of Omar’s story to emulate?