Acquaintance with Darkness
By, Ann Rinaldi
Chapter 7 “The House on J Street”
Chapter 8 “Home Alone”
Word Wizard
Define the following vocabulary words using context clues or the dictionary. Put the definitions in your owns words. Then use the words in an original creative sentence. Label each word with the proper part of speech.
Grandiouse Pg. 66
Detained Pg. 68
Dismal Pg. 80
Culprits Pg. 89
Drudgery Pg. 82
Discussion Questions
Who is Marietta? What is her story?
How is Emily’s attitude towards Uncle Valentine starting to change?
How is Emily dealing with her mother’s death? Give an example from the text to support your answer.
Why did Maude take everything out of the house?
What did Emily do with her parents’ letters? How did that make you feel? Would you have done the same thing? Why or why not?
Why did Emily say she didn’t cry at the funeral?
What did Emily’s parent disagree on regarding the war? Name two issues. Do you think that would have been hard on Emily? Why or why not?
What happens at Ford Theatre?
How is Uncle Valentine involved?
Who do they accuse of the murder?
What do you think will happen to the Surratts’?
Historical Connection
Lincoln Assignation
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/alhtml/alrintr.html
Summarize what happened to President Lincoln. You can write it in paragraph form, write a poem, or even a newspaper article.
Was the description from the story historically accurate?
Researcher
In Chapter 7 Marietta shows Emily her fabulous garden that includes some very unique types of flowers. Are these flowers real or make believe? Describe the flowers that Marietta shows Emily. Research them to determine if they are real, and also find some pictures. What special trait does each one have?
Chocolate vine (pg. 72)
Devil’s Tongue (pg. 72)
Evening primrose-Cereus (pg. 73)