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Guided Reading: To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

Chapter 1

1. Who is the narrator of the story?

2. What point of view is used?

3. How old do you think the narrator is when she tells the story?

4. What are some possible drawbacks to having a character in the novel narrate the story?

5. What is the setting?

6. Who is Jem? What happened to him when he was thirteen?

7. Who is Atticus Finch? What is his occupation?

8. Who is John Hale Finch? What is his occupation? Who paid for his education?

9. Who’s Alexandra Finch?

10. In what town does the Finch family live? State?

11. Who is Calpurnia?

12. Describe the relationship of Calpurnia and Scout.

13. What happened to Scout and Jem’s mother?

14. Why doesn’t Scout miss her?

15. How much older is Jem than Scout?

16. By what name is Charles Baker Harris better known?

17. How old is he?

18. He’s from Meridian, Mississippi. What’s he doing in Maycomb County, Alabama?

19. Copy three words or phrases used to describe Dill.

20. What does Dill’s response to Jem’s questions about his father reveal?

21. What do Scout, Jem and Dill decide to do at the end of August because they’re bored?

22. Describe the Radley place.

23. What deeds are attributed to the “malevolent phantom” that lives in the Radley place?

24. Why do the people of Maycomb view the Radleys with such suspicion?

25. What is the most important recreational place in town?

26. Name all the people in the Radley family.

27. How do the townspeople spend Sundays?

28. List three activities Arthur Radley and his gang were warned about by three churches in Maycomb.

29. What did Arthur and his friends do that got them arrested?

30. Why wasn’t Arthur sent to the state industrial school like the rest of his friends?

31. What did Mr. Radley do to Arthur as a result of his arrest?

32. How does Atticus feel about the Radleys?

33. According to Miss Stephanie Crawford, what did Boo do to his father after he hadn’t been seen for 15 years?

34. Where did the sheriff want to send him?

35. Why did Mr. Radley take Boo back?

36. How was Boo made into a “ghost”?

37. What does Calpurnia say about the dead Mr. Radley? Why is her comment unusual?

38. Why didn’t Boo come out of the house after his father’s death?

39. Summarize the description Jem gives of Boo Radley. Is the description realistic or fabricated?

40. What dare does Dill make Jem?

41. What part do Scout’s comments and reactions play in spurring Jem to accept Dill’s dare?

42. What happens when Jem eventually takes the dare?

43. What details in Chapter 1 hint that Arthur Radley, whom the children imagine as a monster, has himself been a victim of abuse?

44. What alleged incident hints of Boo’s capability of violence?

Chapter 2

1. Why does Dill leave Maycomb?

2. What event is Scout looking forward to?

3. Who takes Scout to school? Why?

4. Copy three words or phrases used to describe Miss Caroline Fisher.

5. Why doesn’t the first grade like the story about the talking cats?

6. How did Scout learn to read?

7. Why does Scout knowing how to read upset Miss Caroline?

8. How is Jem’s explanation that Miss Caroline is using the Dewey Decimal System to teach reading humorous?

9. Why does Miss Caroline object to Scout writing a letter to Dill?

10. Who taught Scout to write? Why?

11. Why doesn’t Walter Cunningham have a lunch?

12. Why does he refuse the quarter Miss Caroline offers him to buy lunch?

13. By what name is Jen Louise better known?

14. How did Mr. Cunningham pay Atticus for getting him out of trouble?

15. What is “the crash”?

16. What does Scout say to Miss Caroline that causes Scout to get her hand slapped?

17. What causes Miss Caroline to lose control of the class? Why does Miss Blount have much better control?

18. Why doesn’t Scout comfort Miss Caroline when she cries?

19. What difference can you find between Miss Caroline’s views on education and Atticus’s views?

Chapter 3

1. Why does Scout try to beat up Walter Cunningham in the schoolyard?

2. Why does Jem stop her?

3. Why does he invite Walter home for dinner/lunch?

4. Why has Walter failed the first grade so many times?

5. How is Walter treated at the Finch’s house?

6. Why does Calpurnia yell at Scout and make her eat in the kitchen?

7. List two reasons why Scout is so angry with Calpurnia today.

8. What does Atticus say when Scout says Calpurnia should be fired because of the wrongs she’s done her?

9. What is a “cootie”?

10. What does Burris Ewell say when Miss Caroline says she’s sending him home? Quote the line.

11. How long has Burris been in the first grade? How long does he attend school each year? Why does he bother to come at all?

12. How are Burris Ewell and Walter Cunningham alike? How are they different?

13. Why does Scout dislike school?

14. How does Calpurnia treat Scout that afternoon? Why? What does it reveal about their relationship?

15. What advice does Atticus give Scout about getting along with people? Quote the line.

16. Why does Atticus say Scout has to go to school, whereas the Ewells don’t? What is the difference between the Ewells and the Finches?

17. What’s the difference between the Finches and the Cunninghams?

18. What’s the difference between the Cunninghams and the Ewells?

19. Why is Bob Ewell permitted to hunt and trap out of season?

20. What compromise do Atticus and Scout make concerning reading?

21. Why must the agreement be secret?

22. Is Atticus a good father? Explain.

23. Why does Harper Lee take two chapters to tell the story of Scout’s first day of school?

Chapter 4

1. How does Scout view her education?

2. Is her education any different than yours?

3. What did Scout find in the knothole of the Radleys’ big oak tree?

4. Why was Scout afraid to eat it?

5. What season is it in Chapter 4?

6. What do they find in the oak tree the second time?

7. Where does Jem think the small gifts are coming from?

8. What does Dill say about his father? Do you think it’s true? Explain.

9. Calpurnia says that Hot Steams are “nigger-talk.” This is the first time in the novel that the word “nigger” is used. Is the term less offensive when spoken by Calpurnia?

10. Where does Jem push Scout in the tire?

11. Why does Scout say, “There was more to it than he knew”? (p38)

12. How does one play “Boo Radley”?

13. What happens when Atticus discovers the game?

14. List two superstitions in which the children believe.

15. Why do you think the author waited until the last line of the chapter to reveal that Scout heard laughter inside the Radley house?

Chapter 5

1. Why don’t Dill and Jem play with Scout anymore?

2. Cite three things that reveal the character of Miss Maudie.

3. How does Miss Maudie know that Boo is alive?

4. What does a “foot-washing” Baptist believe?

5. What truth does Miss Maudie see about Boo Radley that has caused him to be the way he is today?

6. How is Miss Maudie contrasted with Stephanie Crawford?

7. How is the note to Boo Radley to be delivered?

8. What does it say?

9. What does Atticus say when he catches Jem trying to deliver the note?

10. Jem doesn’t make an outright admission of putting on a dramatization of Boo’s life, but Atticus still gets him to admit that he was doing it. How?

Chapter 6

1. What is Jem and Dill’s new plan to see Boo Radley?

2. Why does Scout go along?

3. Who looks in?

4. What does he see?

5. Who catches the kids? What happens?

6. Why doesn’t Jem follow Scout and Dill to the schoolyard?

7. Who does Mr. Radley think he shot at?

8. Why does Atticus think Jem was the one Mr. Radley shot at?

9. What does Dill say to take the suspicion away from Jem?

10. Why is Dill much more sophisticated than Jem and Scout?

11. Why does Dill’s story get them in more trouble?

12. Why can’t Jem sleep?

13. Why doesn’t Jem want to get into trouble with Atticus?

14. Why is going after his pants so dangerous?

15. Explain: “It was then, I suppose, that Jem and I first began to part company.”

16. Where does Jem go and why?

Chapter 7

1. How has Jem changed since the night he lost his pants at the Radleys?

2. What season is it in Chapter 7?

3. What did Jem discover the night he went back for his pants?

4. Why is Scout’s explanation for Jem’s moodiness inaccurate?

5. What do they find in the knothole of the tree this time?

6. Who do they think is hiding things there?

7. What do they find in the knothole in October?

8. Why do these particular gifts scare Scout and Jem?

9. List the three other things they find during the next few days.

10. Jem says the Egyptians “invented toilet paper and perpetual embalming.” Atticus tells Scout to delete the adjectives and she’d have the facts. How is this humorous?

11. What does Jem discover when he goes to put the thank you note in the knothole?

12. Who did it and why?

13. Why does Jem cry? What has he realized that Scout hasn’t realized?

Chapter 8

1. Why do Jem and Scout think they’re responsible for the cold weather?

2. Why does Scout think he world is ending and why is school cancelled?

3. How do they make the snowman?

4. Why does Atticus say, “You’ve perpetrated a near libel here in the front yard. We’ve got to disguise this fellow”?

5. What happens to Miss Maudie’s house because of the weather?

6. Why does Atticus awaken Jem and Scout?

7. Where did Scout get the blanket she’s wearing?

8. How does she react?

9. Why does Jem want to stop Atticus from returning the blanket to the Radleys?

10. Why does Miss Maudie react so calmly to the loss of her house?

11. What details in Chapters 7 and 8 reveal that Boo watches Jem and Scout very closely?

Chapter 9

1. How does Scout’s loyalty to Atticus begin to take a new form in this chapter?

2. Why is Atticus defending Tom Robinson even though it’s going to be hard on his family?

3. He knows he won’t win, but he will do it anyway. Why?

4. Why does Scout walk away when Cecil calls her a coward?

5. Why has Scout decided to start “cussing fluently”?

6. What does Uncle Jack say about Scout’s swearing?

7. What does Atticus give Scout and Jem for Christmas?

8. According to Aunt Alexandra, what’s wrong with Scout’s clothes?

9. What does Francis reveal about Dill?

10. What do Francis and Scout fight about?

11. How is Scout unfairly punished?

12. What does Uncle Jack do when he hears Scout’s side of the story?

13. Why does Atticus say that Scout and Jem are going to be in for a rough time soon?

14. What is significant about the shift in point of view in the last sentence of the chapter?

15. The first eight chapters focused on the children’s fascination with Boo Radley. Who/What is the new object of their fascination?

Chapter 10

1. How old is Atticus?

2. How is he different from the other fathers Jem and Scout know? List three ways.

3. Explain the origin of the novel’s title. (p90)

4. List three of the things Miss Maudie says Atticus can do. Why don’t these things make Scout proud of Atticus?

5. Who is old Tim Johnson?

6. What’s wrong with him?

7. Who shoots him? Why is the one chosen to do it?

8. Why doesn’t Atticus want to be called “One-Shot Finch”?

9. Why hasn’t Atticus shot a gun in thirty years?

10. Explain: “People in their right minds never take pride in their talents.”

11. What does Jem realize about the reason that Atticus avoids violence?

Chapter 11

1. Copy three words or phrases used to describe Mrs. Dubose.

2. Why do Jem and Scout hate her?

3. How does Atticus treat Mrs. Dubose and why?

4. Why does Atticus’s treatment of Mrs. Dubose make Scout think he’s the bravest man who ever lived?

5. Why does Mrs. Dubose yell at Scout as they go to town to spend Jem’s twelfth birthday money?

6. What does Mrs. Dubose say that angers Jem?

7. What does Jem buy with his birthday money?

8. What does Jem do to Mrs. Dubose in retaliation for what she said about Atticus and the Finch family?

9. Why does Jem pull Scout’s hair and yell at her?

10. Atticus uses this occasion to explain to Scout his reasons for taking the Robinson case. Is expectation of winning the case one of his reasons?

11. Why doesn’t Atticus hold Mrs. Dubose responsible for what she said?

12. What is Jem going to have to do every day for a month for Mrs. Dubose?

13. Why does Atticus say he has to do it?

14. Although Scout doesn’t have to go with Jem, she does. Is her loyalty to Jem so basic to her that being with him in this difficult situation is a foregone conclusion?

15. What does Mrs. Dubose say about Scout?

16. Summarize the description of Mrs. Dubose on page 106.

17. What happens to Mrs. Dubose as Jem reads to her?

18. What does Atticus tell Jem about name-calling?

19. Why has Mrs. Dubose been setting the alarm clock for later each day? Why did she want Jem to read to her each day? What were her “fits”?

20. What was Mrs. Dubose determined to do before she died?

21. What did she leave Jem when she died?

22. Why?

23. Why did Atticus make Jem read to her? What did he want Jem to learn about Mrs. Dubose?