Girl in the Blue Coat

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

Multiple Choice

1. What is Hanneke’s primary feeling toward Bas in the Prologue, when she thinks about Bas and what she would done differently had she known he would die?

A) She feels that Bas is in a better place now.

B) She feels Bas’s death is her fault.

C) She feels Bas would be shocked at recent atrocities.

D) She feels that she won’t know peace until Bas’s family forgives her.

2. What is Hanneke’s motto, which makes her wonder if she should indeed help Mrs. Janssen find Mirjam Roodveldt?

A) Only the good die young

B) Survival first

C) Only the smart survive

D) Carpe diem

3. As a black-market trader, what keeps Hanneke safe, especially when compared with the resistance?

A) Isolation keeps Hanneke safe, unlike the resistance whose safety comes from being in a group.

B) Money keeps Hanneke safe, since her profiteering shopkeeper clients make sure she is paid. The resistance’s efforts are largely unpaid.

C) Youth keeps Hanneke safe. The resistance has some older members in their group who must be looked after and cared for.

D) Connections to the black market keep Hanneke safe. She has access to knowledge and resources that the resistance does not.

4. Hanneke mistakes Ollie’s resistance meeting for what in Chapter 7?

A) A dinner party

B) A football game

C) A students’ association meeting

D) A fundraiser

5. What does Hanneke think is the true reason that Bas joined the Navy?

A) He loved the sea and the open ocean.

B) He wanted to travel the world.

C) His father always told him that joining the Navy would bring their family honor.

D) He hoped that Hanneke would find it patriotic.

6. What is Mina’s “own small rebellion,” according to Hanneke, in Chapter 20?

A) Her making sure the Jewish children in her care all have buttons on their coats

B) Her spitting on the ground every time she hears Adolf Hitler’s name

C) Her refusing to wear the armband issued to her by the Nazis

D) Her taking photos of the atrocities committed at the Schouwburg Theater

7. To whom does Hanneke say, “I can’t forgive you for loving the side that killed Bas” (200)? 

A) Ollie

B) Her mother

C) Mrs. de Vries

D) Elsbeth

8. Jokingly, in his letter to Ollie, Bas suggests that Hanneke should “get over him” in the event of his death after what period of time?

A) The next day

B) 2-3 months

C) 1 year

D) Never

9. Who pretends to be a member of the Gestapo in Chapter 26 when Hanneke infiltrates the transport?

A) Hanneke

B) Mrs. de Vries

C) Ollie

D) Willem

10. What causes Hanneke’s bike to crash in Chapter 29?

A) A patch of ice

B) A stone in the road

C) A twig

D) A flat tire

11. Why is it significant that, when Hanneke and Mina examine the image of the girl in the blue coat being brought into the theater, she is looking in a different direction than everyone else in the photograph?

A) Because it shows that the girl is her own person who marches to the beat of her own drum

B) Because it indicates that there was probably a Nazi at the back of the theater

C) Because it means that Mina’s camera may be broken

D) Because it implies that the girl feared being exposed as an imposter

12. How does Hanneke realize that Mirjam and Amalia switched places?

A) Amalia’s mother tells her that her daughter is missing, and Hanneke realizes that Amalia is the one who died.

B) Hanneke sees a photo of Mirjam and Amalia together, and she realizes the girl she buried was Amalia.

C) The gravedigger at the cemetery recognized the girl they buried to be Amailia, and he tells Hanneke so.

D) The autopsy report of the girl’s body comes back, revealing to Hanneke that the body belonged to Amalia.

13. What was one of the main reasons that Amalia thought that her identity swap with Mirjam would be successful?

A) Amalia was favored by her Gestapo neighbor who would protect her.

B) Amalia’s mother, a powerful woman in the community, would do everything in her power to protect them.

C) Amalia felt she could easily get new identification papers.

D) Amalie thought the Nazis were not bright, so there is little chance of discovery.

14. Why did Tof turn Amalia out of his home?

A) Because Amalia could not stop wailing loudly in grief

B) Because Amalia refused to have sex with him

C) Because Amalia turned Mirjam’s family into the Nazis

D) Because Tof’s mother refused to keep her in the house

15. On the final page of Hanneke’s book, Bas wrote an inscription. What animal is mentioned in this inscription?

A) An eagle

B) A bear

C) A lion

D) A cat

Long-Answer

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

1. How is the moment in which Hanneke dresses the body of the girl in the blue coat in Chapter 28 transformational for Hanneke?

2. What is the significance of the motif of photography in the novel?