The Blackbird Girls

Question 1

Level 1

Name of the power plant that has a meltdown

The Blackbird Girls

Answer 1

Chernobyl

Question 2

Level 1

What kind of power plant melted down?

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Answer 2

Nuclear
power plant

Question 3

Level 1

the war that was happening in Rifka’s time

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Answer 3

World War Two

Question 4

Level 1

the religion of Jewish people

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Answer 4

Judaism

Question 5

Level 1

the weekly holiday in Judaism where they light candles and say prayers

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Answer 5

shabbat

Question 6

Level 1

What was making everyone sick when the power plant melted down?

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Answer 6

radiation or radiation poisoning

Question 7

Level 1

The fake cure for radiation poisoning that everyone knew

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Answer 7

Cucumbers and milk

Question 8

Level 1

The color of the sky and smoke when the power plant melted down

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Answer 8

Red sky. Blue smoke.

Question 9

Level 2

Valentina’s last name

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Answer 9

Valentina
Kaplan

Question 10

Level 2

Valentina’s mom’s name

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Answer 10

Galina Yurievna

Question 11

level 2

Rifka’s last name

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Answer 11

Rifka
Friedman

Question 12

level 2

Oksana’s last name

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Answer 12

Oksana
Savchenko

Question 13

level 2

Where did Rifka live with her mom?
(the city)

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Answer 13

Kiev

Question 14

level 2

In what city do Valentina and Oksana live at the beginning of the book?

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Answer 14

Pripyat

Question 15

level 2

both Kiev and Pripyat were in what nation
(at the time of the book)?

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Answer 15

The Soviet Union

Question 16

level 2

Both Kiev and Pripyat were in what region that is now it’s own nation?

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Answer 16

Ukraine

Question 17

Level 2

What was the acronym by which the Soviet Union was known? (like U.S. or U.S.A. is for the United States)

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Answer 17

U.S.S.R.

the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Question 18

Level 2

What musical instrument did Rifka play?

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Answer 18

flute

Question 19

Level 2

When did the Chernobyl meltdown happen?
(the year)

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Answer 19

1986

Question 20

level 2

In what year did the Nazis invade the Soviet Union?

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Answer 20

1941

Question 21

level 3

Oksana and Valentina’s teacher in Pripyat

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Answer 21

Svetlana Dmitrievna

Question 22

level 3

Svetlana’s cat who had to stay in Pripyat while all the people were evacuated.

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Answer 22

Zhulka

Question 23

level 3

In what city did Valentina and Oksana live with Valentina’s grandma?

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Answer 23

Leningrad

Question 24

level 3

What was Valentina’s grandma’s name?

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Answer 24

Rifka Friedman

Question 25

# Level 3 In what country did Rifka live with her blackbird girl? | The Blackbird Girls

Answer 25

Uzbekistan

Question 26

# Level 3 What did Oksana and Valentina call Valentina's grandma? | The Blackbird Girls

Answer 26

Babulya

Question 27

# Level 3 What city did Oksana move to with her mom and her mom's awful new boyfriend? | The Blackbird Girls

Answer 27

Minsk

Question 28

# Level 3 What was the first name of Rifka's blackbird girl? | The Blackbird Girls

Answer 28

Feruza

Question 29

# Level 3 What was the name of Valentina's neighbor in Pripyat who sunbathed on the roof and got sick from radiation poisoning? | The Blackbird Girls

Answer 29

Dyadya Sergei

Question 30

# Level 3 Where did Valentina's family live before coming to Pripyat? | The Blackbird Girls

Answer 30

Siberia

Question 31

# Level 4 What does Babulya tell Oksana she could call her, when they first met. | The Blackbird Girls

Answer 31

Tetya Rita (Auntie Rita)

Question 32

# Level 4 What name was Babulya using in Leningrad? | The Blackbird Girls ## Footnote hint: not Rifka Friedman

Answer 32

Rita Grigorievna

Question 33

# Level 4 Where did Babulya take the girls after they first met? It's the most famous street in Leningrad. | The Blackbird Girls

Answer 33

Nevsky Prospekt

Question 34

# Level 4 Babulya has a kommunalka. What is a kommunalka? | The Blackbird Girls

Answer 34

a community apartment (it means they share the kitchen & bathroom)

Question 35

# Level 4 Why was Oksana surprised that Babulya seemed to be poor? | The Blackbird Girls

Answer 35

Because her father told her all Jewish people were rich. ## Footnote "A *kommunalka*. Only the lowliest people lived there, didn't they? So that must mean that Valentina's grandmother was poor. But Papa had always said Jews were secretly rich and hid their wealth. . . This place certainly didn't seem like the sort of place a secretly rich Jew would live. It looked like a poor person's home. . . Had Papa been mistaken about Jews. Or had he lied to her. He had told her again and again that Jews were thieves. He had said Valentina's father had stolen his promotion at work by spreading rumors that he was a bad worker. He had said Jews cheated to take others' jobs or earn the best marks on a test. he had made her promise to be on her guard against them."

Question 36

# level 4 What is Valentina's favorite food? Babulya showed her and Oksana how to make it their first night in Leningrad. | The Blackbird Girls

Answer 36

Pelmenyi (dumplings with butter and onions)

Question 37

# Level 4 What is the name of the black market supplier that Oksana worked for? | The Blackbird Girls

Answer 37

Comrade Orlov

Question 38

# Level 4 What was in the package that Oksana delivered for Comrade Orlov when Valentina was with her and the guy who was supposed to get the package was arrested. | The Blackbird Girls

Answer 38

an American passport

Question 39

# level 4 What is the name of the secret police that everyone is afraid of? | The Blackbird Girls

Answer 39

the KGB

Question 40

# Level 4 What did Oksana want to buy with the money she was making from black market deliveries? | The Blackbird Girls

Answer 40

a train ticket to Minsk to be with her mom

Question 41

# Level 5 What is the name of Rifka's cousin who she ran away with from Kiev? | The Blackbird Girls

Answer 41

Nathan

Question 42

# Level 5 What is the first name of Oksana and Valentina's school friend who gives Oksana a chocolate bar for her birthday? | The Blackbird Girls

Answer 42

Lyudmila

Question 43

# Level 5 What is the first name of Oksana and Valentina's school friend who gives Oksana blue beads for her birthday. | The Blackbird Girls

Answer 43

Yulia

Question 44

# Level 5 At one point Oksana sees "the strangest-looking object she had ever seen. It was a teacup covered all over with little metal screws." What was it? | The Blackbird Girls

Answer 44

A pencil holder for Oksana's paint brushes | the birthday gift from Valentina

Question 45

# Level 5 What does Valentina's mom call Valentina? | The Blackbird Girls

Answer 45

Valyushka

Question 46

# Level 5 What does Oksana's mom call Oksana (when she's being nice)? | The Blackbird Girls

Answer 46

Khusha

Question 47

# Level 5 What was the name of the power station that melted down? | The Blackbird Girls

Answer 47

the V.I. Lenin power station | Lenin was a leader of Russia

Question 48

# Level 5 What is the first name of Valentina's bestie at the beginning of the book? | The Blackbird Girls

Answer 48

Larisa