58 pages • 1-hour read
Booked
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Summaries & Analyses
During Reading
Reading Questions & Paired Texts
Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.
PAGES 1-52
Reading Check
1. What game do Nick and his mother play together?
2. Who does Nick have a crush on?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How does Nick feel about his father?
2. What is Mr. MacDonald like?
3. How does Nick approach his malapropism assignment?
Paired Resource
“Top 10 Must-Know Table Manners”
- Nick attends an etiquette school for dance lessons. This brief article on table manners comes from Emily Post’s Etiquette site. More etiquette ideas can be found under the “Etiquette Articles” heading.
- How does Nick’s poem “At Miss Quattlebaum’s School of Ballroom Dance & Etiquette” demonstrate situational irony?
PAGES 53-113
Reading Check
1. Where does Nick’s mother reveal she is moving for a while?
2. What are the consequences to the fight the Eggleston twins start?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How does Nick react to his parents’ revelation they are separating?
2. When the Eggleston twins fight Coby, how does Nick’s real reaction contrast with his imagined one?
Paired Resource
“Stand Up to Bullying in Five Simple Steps”
- This brief list of tips for dealing with bullies comes from Boys Town.
- The information in this resource connects with the theme of Standing Up for Yourself and Your Friends.
- How do these tips compare with the way Coby reacts to the Eggleston twins? What might Nick think about the tips?
PAGES 114-172
Reading Check
1. What game does Nick’s mother beat him in?
2. Where do Nick’s parents take him instead of the soccer tournament in New York?
3. When trying to talk with April in the cafeteria, why does Nick run out?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What causes Nick’s mother to return home?
2. How is the relationship between Nick and April changing?
PAGES 173-234
Reading Check
1. During the soccer game, who insults Coby?
2. For what two reasons does Nick end up in the hospital after the game?
3. What does Nick’s father say he has to do for five minutes of TV time?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How does the soccer game connect to the fight in the cafeteria earlier?
2. What are different conflicts evident throughout the soccer game? How does the verse style help to build the conflicts?
3. What helps shift Nick’s feelings about books?
Paired Resource
“Being Assertive: Reduce Stress, Communicate Better”
- The Mayo Clinic offers discussion and advice for positive assertiveness.
- Theme connection includes Standing Up for Yourself and Your Friends.
- When does Nick wish he were more assertive?
PAGES 235-267
Reading Check
1. Where do Nick and April go for a date?
2. What do Nick’s parents reveal about their relationship?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How are books bringing April and Nick closer together?
2. What is the mood of the poem “Dreams Come True,” and what details contribute to the mood?
3. Why and how is a family meeting conducted in Nick’s home?
Paired Resource
- This resource from the Pew Resource Center includes graphs and written reflections on research about families in the United States. (Teacher-appropriate; not student facing due to length and complexity)
- Theme connections include Reimagining Family.
PAGES 268-314
Reading Check
1. How many goals does Nick score in the soccer playoffs?
2. Before moving, what does Mr. Mac give Nick?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. After Nick finishes reading his father’s dictionary, how do he and his father grow closer?
2. How and why does Nick stand up to the Eggleston twins?
3. What is the effect of not fully revealing what is in the dragonfly box?
Recommended Next Reads
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
- Josh and Jordan are twin brothers with supportive parents, a love for basketball, and a relationship growing more complicated as they grow older. As the championship game approaches, they face a family tragedy that brings them closer together.
- Shared themes include Standing Up for Yourself and Your Friends and Reimagining Family.
- Shared topics include growing up, family, race, school, sports, love, health, and healing.
- The Crossover on SuperSummary
Ghost by Jason Reynolds
- Ghost navigates a traumatic past, middle school, and a new opportunity: a track team.
- Shared themes include Standing Up for Yourself and Your Friends and Reimagining Family.
- Shared topics include family, race, sports, growing up, identity, school, friends, and challenges.
- Ghost on SuperSummary
Reading Questions Answer Key
PAGES 1-52
Reading Check
1. Ping-pong (“Giggy-Up”)
2. April (“At Miss Quattlebaum’s School of Ballroom Dance and Etiquette”)
Short Answer
1. Nick has complicated feelings toward his father. He resents his father demanding that he read and study the dictionary his father wrote, but he also seems to enjoy using the words he is learning in his first-person poems. He recognizes his father’s formality, observing his study and the way he speaks, but wonders why he couldn’t be a father with a job that made him famous, cool, or important instead of the job he has as a linguistics professor. (Pages 1-52)
2. Mr. Macdonald, the librarian, seems to care a lot about the students, as evidenced by his paying attention, listening, and asking about them. He used to be a rap producer. He raps, leads the book club, and wears clothes with witty messages on them. He tries to get Nick to read through encouragement and humor.(Pages 42-47)
3. Nick hopes he does not need to share his malapropism, but he has completed it on time. He uses malapropisms humorously, causing his teacher to run into the hallway to laugh. He demonstrates his enjoyment of words by creating two malapropisms instead of the one assigned. (“Huckleberry Finn-ished”)
PAGES 53-113
Reading Check
1. To Kentucky to train a racehorse (“Broken”)
2. Coby is suspended, the twins leave school, and Nick feels guilty. (“Consequences”)
Short Answer
1. Nick struggles with his parents’ separation; he has trouble sleeping, refuses to communicate with his mother despite all her texts and calls, and endures his father and his cooking. He escapes in soccer. (Pages 53-113)
2. Nick imagines using his words to stand up to the twins, with everyone in the cafeteria joining his side. Instead, he does not get involved with the fight and regrets not standing up for his friend. (Pages 103-106)
PAGES 114-172
Reading Check
1. Soccer (“1 on 1”)
2. To therapy (“Shrink”)
3. He gets sick. (“Bad”)
Short Answer
1. Nick reveals he is struggling in a social media post and to his father, saying he wishes he was dead sometimes. His father tells his mother, and she drives all night to be with her son. (Pages 139-145)
2. Nick and April are talking more, and sharing about things in their lives beyond dance, which they take together. April left Nick a note, asking him to meet her. They are discuss their interests, including swimming and soccer. (Pages 114-172)
PAGES 173-234
Reading Check
1. Nick’s co-captain, Pernell (“Game On”)
2. Spraining his ankle and a perforated appendix (“Ankle Sprains”)
3. Read one page of a book (“New Rules”)
Short Answer
1. In both instances, someone racially insults Coby, and Nick regrets not standing up for his friend. (Pages 177-191)
2. Some conflicts during the soccer game include Pernell taunting Coby with racist language; Nick wanting to stand up to Pernell but unable to; Nick getting sick; the two teams competing against each other; Coby receiving warnings from the referees and eventually getting booked. The short lines drive the action forward quickly, increase the pace, and keep the tension building. (Pages 177-191)
3. Mr. Mac visits him in the hospital and reads to him, and by the end of the novel, he is interested. April recommends a book to him. Then, he continues reading different books, gaining motherentum. (Pages 216-234)
PAGES 235-267
Reading Check
1. Horseback riding and to a zombie movie (Pages 256-263)
2. They are getting divorced. (“Conversation with Mom and Dad”)
Short Answer
1. Nick asks for a book recommendation and reads it. They talk about books more, and he attends the book club meeting when the meeting comes to his home. (Pages 235-267)
2. The mood is hopeful. Nick lists details that make his life better, like the twins being removed from school and starting soccer soon. Looking to the future and ending with the word “again” also adds to the feeling of expectant happiness. (“Dreams Come True”)
3. There is a disagreement about Nick’s mother setting up a date between him and April. He and his mother explain their side, with his father asking questions and making a decision. Humor and levity drive the interaction. (“Family Meeting”)
PAGES 268-314
Reading Check
1. 2 (“Playoffs”)
2. His dragonfly box (“Blue MoonRiver”)
Short Answer
1. They go out to eat, and his father tells him a story about his childhood and facing a bully. Nick can relate because of the twins at school and the racism at the soccer game. (Pages 292-297)
2. Nick stands up to the Eggleston twins at a party when he sees them picking on someone. He trips one of the boys, uses soccer moves, and aims malapropisms to triumph over their cruelty. (Pages 305-311)
3. By not revealing what is in the box, the author builds possibilities. The reader can imagine and infer what might be in the box. It does inspire Nick to stand up to the twins at the party soon after he opens it. He does continue to use the word “freedom” when referring to the box. Providing clues but no complete answer entices continued deep thinking about the reading. (Pages 303-314)
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