Toliver's Secret

What role do supportive adults play in Ellen’s life? How do they help Ellen through her journey? Cite examples from the text.

Why does Ellen have to disguise herself as a boy for her journey? What is the novel’s ultimate message about the types of things boys and girls can do?

Why is the message for Washington hidden in a loaf of bread? At times, this keeps the message safe, but at other times, it draws people’s attention to Ellen. Do you think the bread is a successful vehicle for Ellen’s message?

Use the internet to search for different ways that American and British spies carried secret messages in the American Revolution. What are some of these ways? Which methods worked best, and which didn’t work so well?

Ellen’s family are American Patriots and colonists, so they see the British Army as the enemy. However, Dicey is also a colonist, and she is Ellen’s bully, while Higgins is a British soldier, and Ellen calls him a “good friend.” Why do you think this novel complicates who the good and bad guys are?

Ellen meets lots of people who are negatively affected by the war; including her own family, there is also Dicey, Higgins, the Murdocks, and the Shannons. Choose one or more of these people, and write an essay about how the war has affected their lives.

Ellen confronts several bullies, including Dicey and Dow. What methods does Ellen use to stand up to them? Do these methods work?

Research the historical time and place in which this novel is set: New York in late 1776. What was happening in New York at that time? What important events were happening in the American Revolution around this time?