They make it over the border where Nate speaks Hebrew and shows their papers, convincing them that they are Greek.  They scramble into the back of a waiting truck and leave hurriedly for Nachod to a Red Cross building for Physical exams.  Men are checked under their arms for Nazi tattoos, and one is discovered and taken away.

They are all declared fit and get on a train to southeast Czechoslovakia where one of the young girls steals a handful of cherries and cannot believe that there will no longer be a need to steal to satisfy hunger.  A girl, Leah, believes only Ruth.

They go to the Hotel Jolen, which has been bombed and is now a refugee center.  They read the names refugees have scrawled on the walls in the hopes of finding relatives.  Leah recognizes one of them as her aunt.  They arrive in Vienna next day by walking to the Czechoslovakia/Austria border and catching a train, which is so crowded they climb to the roof and lie flat.
She is led there by a boy, Zvi, one of the children who is actually older than Leah..  Zvi tells her, “Don’t let them take your heart as well,” and gets them to laugh.  At the Rothschild Hospital, Leah finds her aunt.

Discussion Director:
Section 4 (P30-46)

MCEOG question:
Zvi takes Ruth onto the roof of the train because:
A: Food is hidden there
B. He’s found Leah’s mother there
C. He intends to jump off and run
D. It is so crowded she had trouble breathing

Answer: D (P43, p2,3)

Problem: The peasants are angry that Leah has stolen cherries (P36, p2)
Solution: Their guide tells the stand owner she asked the girl to pick up some fruit for breakfast and pays for it. (P36, last p)

Prediction: Ruth will remain lifelong friends with some of the people she has met.

Fact: Ruth smiles (P46, top).
Opinion: It is my opinion that Ruth will find more to smile about.
 

Passage Picker:
Section 4 (P30-46)

(P30, p1, 2) “You are stupid idiots…” …with a big smile on his face.
I think it is funny that he is insulting them as he gets them to do exactly what he wants.
Author’s Purpose: Humor and to show how Nate vents some of his frustration.
(P32, last) I have the overwhelming desire to go and rip him up, limb from limb.
I found this interesting, because it is exactly what the dogs did to the little girl’s friends.
Author’s purpose: To inform the reader of Ruth’s inner feelings
(P33, p4) “Goodbye, graveyard,” cries a thin, pale girl.  I picked this passage because it is a sad metaphor of Ruth’s homeland.
Author’s purpose: To inform the reader of how these children have lost everything.
(P39, last p) I haven’t tasted fresh fruit in six years.  It is like eating a little present straight from paradise.  Simile
Author’s purpose: to inform
 

Character Sketcher:
section 4 (P 30-46)

Nate:
Competent (P30, p3) …he looks sharp, like he knows what he’s doing … he will get us through.
Appreciative (P31, p3) “Hardly,” Nate remarks, “ She single-handedly saved me from being arrested.”
Brave: (P30, p2) He speaks directly and confidently to the guards who can have him killed.
Goal: To get the children across the border.
Problem:  He needs to convince the guards that he is Greek (P30, p3).
Solution: (P30, p3) He speaks confidently, and smiles.
 

Word Wizard:
section 4 (P 30-46)

Vermin (P32, Top)  “…I thought we were worse that dogs, only vermin.”
Meaning: Pests, or bugs.  Noun (things)
I called the Terminex man to rid my house of vermin.
                
Naïve (P32, p3-middle) And then we were so naïve.  When they rounded us up did it ever occur to anyone that they would shoot us? Or gas us? Not at first.
Meaning: innocently ignorant; unaware.  Adjective (describes a girl-a noun)
The naïve young girl wore a full white gown to the awards ceremony where the other young women wore sleek dresses with side splits.
                                
Skeptically (P37, p4) She gazes at him skeptically, thinking perhaps he is joking with her.
Meaning: Doubtfully, distrustfully.

                            
Decipher (P38, p1) …but finds the rough scrawls almost impossible to decipher.
Meaning: Translate, read, or make clear.  Verb (action)
The teacher found it difficult to decipher Frank’s messy homework papers.
                                
Placidly (P41, p2) We walk through a village where people stare are us placidly except for a young girl who runs up to the line and offers some of us water from the town well.