Study Guide Questions and Vocabulary
Directions: For each set of chapters, define the vocabulary words using a dictionary or dictionary.com. Don’t forget to write the part of speech. The questions are provided to assist the reader understand the literal details of the book. A few opinion questions are also included. When you read a set of chapters, you must define the vocabulary and answer the questions that pertain to those chapters as well.
- Write out short answers.
- Be prepared to answer the day after a set is due.
- Make notes to enable small group discussions.
- Preview the questions prior to reading a section/set.
Chapters 1-3 (pages 1-16)
Vocab –
Caboodle:
Dignified:
Heartily:
Peculiar:
Scads:
Suspend:
Tottery:
Questions –
- Who’s telling the story?
- How does Sal come to be a chickabiddy starting a story?
- Who is Phoebe Winterbottom?
- What is Sal’s reaction to moving to Euclid, Ohio?
- What do you learn of Sal’s mother and father?
Chapters 4-6 (pages 17-35)
Vocab –
Cadaver:
Diabolic:
Gnarled:
Muesli:
Prim:
Prudence:
Ornery:
Questions –
- How does Sal’s life develop in Euclid, Ohio?
- Why is chapter 5 humorous?
- How do the two incidents of chapter 6 fit together?
- Why is chapter 6 titled “Blackberries”?
Chapters 7-10 (pages 36-58)
Vocab –
Civilized:
Hankering:
Kosher:
Mussed:
Pandemonium:
Pastrami:
Shrapnel:
Questions –
- How did Sal react when her mother left?
- Why is chapter 7 titled “Ill-Ah-No-Way”?
- What is the route planned for the car trip?
- Who’s Gloria?
- Who comes to Phoebe’s house and what do they ask?
- What happened to Sal at Mary Lou’s house?
- Compare and contrast the Finny family and the Winterbottom family.
- What does “huzza, huzza” mean?
Chapters 11-14 (pages 59-90)
Vocab –
Agenda:
Anonymous:
Malevolent:
Rhododendron:
Skeptical:
Questions –
- Who is Peeby?
- Why does Sal flinch when she’s touched?
- What does the 2nd porch message mean?
- Why is the marriage bed the most precious thing to Gramps?
- Why does Gramps have a gap in his teeth?
- Describe Mr. Birkway.
- What will Mr. Birkway do with the journals?
Chapters 15-17 (pages 91-106)
Questions –
- Why does the book turn to talk of private property?
- Why do the travellers have a detour in South Dakota?
- What is the singing tree? What does it tell you about Sal?
- What are the mysterious messages? Who is the messenger?
- How do all of the book’s characters have their own agenda?
- Prudence
- Phoebe
- Sal
- Mrs. Winterbottom
Chapters 18-20 (pages 107-128)
- What does Sal think of her father?
- What is Mr. Hiddles’ relationship to Margaret?
- Why does Mrs. Winterbottom look scared in chapter 19?
- Who is the lunatic?
- Why does Sal’s mother kiss the tree?
- Why does Phoebe find 3 envelopes when she comes home from school?
Chapters 21-24 (pages 129-156)
Vocab –
Adhesive:
Amnesia:
Lentil:
Malinger:
Questions –
- How does Sal find herself with a drawing of a circle with a large maple leaf in the center?
- What evidence does Phoebe gather?
- Why are Sal and her father “pitiful and lost”?
- Where are the badlands and what do they look like?
- Why is Sal an only child?
- Who is the egg man?
- How is Phoebe getting caught in a web of lies?
Chapters 25-27 (pages 157-176)
Vocab –
Glum:
Impulse:
Optimistic:
Unadulterated:
Questions –
- How does Phoebe behave at the Finneys’ house?
- Why does Sal say that she could practically see the birds of sadness pecking on Mr. Winterbottom’s head?
- Why is the weekend unbelievably long?
- How are Pandora, Phoebe, and Sal alike?
- What important idea does Sal have at the end of chapter 27?
Chapters 28-30 (pages 177-197)
Vocab –
Careening:
Partition:
Questions –
- Why is Sal disappointed with Mt. Rushmore?
- Why did Gramps teach Sal how to drive?
- Phoebe says, “Mom loves me, and she would not leave me without any explanation.” Why does Phoebe’s father begin to cry?
- How does the tide rise, the action intensify, in this chapter?
- Why does Phoebe’s mother leave with no explanation?
- How is Phoebe like another version of Sal?
- Why do Phoebe and Sal keep mementos of their mothers?
Chapters 31-33 (pages 198-221)
Vocab –
Nonchalant:
Rummaged:
Questions –
- Why does Mr. Birkway begin to share the journals?
- Should he apologize? Why or why not?
- What is Sal’s discovery in Sergeant Bickle’s office?
- What kind of relationship to Gram and Gramps have?
- Who is the Winterbottom visitor?
- Why is the living room confrontation strained?
Chapters 34 – 40 (pages 222-255)
Vocab –
Percolate:
Psychiatric:
Questions –
- 3 adjectives to describe the to Old Faithful
- Who is the gooseberry? Why is that name used?
- What is happening between Ben and Salamanca?
- What is the girls’ telephone plan?
- Why do the girls run into Ben at the bus stop?
- What do they discover when they look for the lunatic?
- What does Sal discover about Ben in the hospital?
- How does Phoebe feel seeing her mother and the lunatic?
- What is the message from Mrs. Winterbottom?
- Why does she warn Phoebe about prejudgments?
- How will the Winterbottoms work out their various feelings?
- What are 3 gifts presented in this chapter? (Hint – gifts can be explanations or support as well as packages and objects)
- Where have the white envelopes been coming from?
Chapters 41-44 (pages 256-280)
Vocab –
Grotesque:
Questions –
- What is the cause of Gram’s greyness?
- What happens after Gramps gives Sal the car keys?
- What does Sal hear from another traveller at the overlook?
- What does Sal find at the bus?
- How do the sheriff and deputy treat Sal?
- What mystery is solved in this chapter?
- What happened to Sal’s mother?
- What happened to Gram?
- What happens to Sal after she returns form the car trip?
- How did Mrs. Cadaver know Sal’s mother?
- How does the book end?
- What do you think this book is about?