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So B. It Study Guide —Chapter 1-2
Answer the questions below in complete sentences.
1. If truth were a crayon, what does Heidi say the color should be called? Why?
2. What would you call truth if it were a color? Why?
3. Make up a color for another abstract noun (an emotion/idea/impression like sorrow or fame). Why did you pick this name?
4. Write three details about Bernadette.
5. Write three details about Heidi.
6. Write three details about Mama.
7. What do Mama and Bernadette have in common?
8. What is a “royal rimple”?
9. What two realizations does Heidi have at the end of Chapter One? Where is she when she has them? How old is she?
10. Write about this book’s point of view. Who is narrating?
11. Is the book narrated in present tense or past tense? Why do you think the author chose this tense?
Chapter 3
Answer the questions below in complete sentences.
1. Mama and Heidi don’t get any bills from the electric company, and the landlord never collects rent. Heidi asks Bernadette if she thinks this is stealing. How does Bernadette answer?
2. Do you think it’s stealing? Why or why not?
3. Why do you think Heidi and her mom don’t get any bills?
4. Who is in Heidi’s family?
5. Who is the only person in her family who works? Doing what job?
6. What does “fall through the cracks” mean? Give an example of someone “falling through the cracks.”
7. In this chapter we learn about Heidi’s special “gift.” What is this gift?
8. When Bernadette reminds Heidi not to “abuse her gift,” what does she mean?
9. Where does Bernadette send Heidi when they are short on money? What does Heidi do there?
10. Do you think it’s right for Bernadette to ask Heidi to get money this way? Why or why not?
11. Before they spend it, what does Bernadette do with the money Heidi brings home? Why?
12. How does Heidi “fly under the radar”?
13. How did Bernadette first meet Heidi and Mama?
14. When did Bernadette’s agoraphobia start?
Chapter 4/part 1(p.25-33)
Answer the questions below in complete sentences.
1. Why doesn’t Bernadette take out her trash? What did she do with it before Heidi got old enough to take it out?
2. What would you do if you could never throw any trash away?
3. What is mama’s name? What is Heidi’s last name?
4. Would you rather be home-schooled like Heidi? Why or why not?
5. List three details about Zander.
6. What is the “ritual” Zander and Heidi developed?
7. According to Bernadette, why do people lie? Do you agree? Why or why not?
8. What does mama do while Bernadette home-schools Heidi?
9. What color does mama call every color?
10. How did Bernadette make shopping lists for Heidi before she could read?
11. How did Bernadette teach mama and Heidi how to cross the street?
12. How many words does mama know? How does Heidi keep track?
13. What is the one word mama says that Bernadette and Heidi don’t understand? What do you think it means?
Chapter 4/part 2 (p.33-end)
Answer the questions below in complete sentences.
1. Who is Precious Bouquet?
2. What does Bernie say she wants to do if she ever meets the person who named Mama?
3. What does Bernadette find so troubling about mama’s name?
4. Heidi makes a list called Things I Know about Mama. What does she put on the list? What other things do you know about Heidi’s mama that could go on the list? Write down at least three.
5. Heidi wonders about her past, and asks Bernie, “Shouldn’t a person know their history?” How would you answer Heidi’s question? Why?
6. What is the first thing Heidi adds to the list called Things I Don’t Know about Mama?
7. What makes Heidi stop adding things to list after she writes down the first thing?
8. Choose someone in your family and make two lists about that person. Call one of them Things I Know about ____________. Call the other one Things I Don’t Know about____________. Write down at least five things on each list. Choose unique things, not easy to know things like “she is a woman” or “she is my mom.” (If you’d rather not write down the person’s name, you can leave it blank.)
Chapter 5
Answer the questions below in complete sentences.
1. What happens when Mama and Heidi try to take the bus to get a new vacuum cleaner part?
2. What does Mama keep saying when they get back inside the apartment?
3. What does Bernie say to Mama to calm her down?
4. Bernie thinks Mama is remembering something. What do you think she is remembering?
5. When Heidi asks Mama what she remembers, what does Mama say?
6. In this chapter, we learn what the image on the cover of the book is about. Why is there a kite on the cover, floating through a deep blue sky?
7. What does Heidi think it means when her mom offers her tea?
8. Why is Heidi having trouble sleeping?
9. In this chapter, Bernie gets mad at Heidi. Why is she mad?
10. Bernie tells Heidi, “There are some things in life you just can’t know, and the meaning of that word of your mama’s is one of them. The sooner you come to grips with that, the better it will be for all of us.” What does she mean?
11. Do you agree with Bernie’s advice? Why or why not?
12. What does Heidi find in the back of a kitchen drawer?
13. What does she hope it might reveal?
Chapter 6
Answer the questions below in complete sentences.
1. List three details about the photographs Heidi has developed from the roll of film she finds in the drawer.
2. What does Bernie say about the eyes of the Santa in one of the photos?
3. What do Heidi and Bernie notice about the way Mama looks in the photos?
4. What do we know about Hilltop Home from the pictures?
5. What else do we learn about Mama’s health in this chapter?
6. What does Mama say when Heidi shows her the photo of a younger Mama?
7. In this chapter Heidi gets mad at her mom for the first time. Why is she so mad?
8. When Mama makes Heidi tea, Bernie tells Heidi her Mama “needs” her to drink the tea. Why does Mama need this so much?
9. Heidi’s mom cannot answer Heidi’s questions. All she can do to soothe Heidi is make her tea. Write about something your parent does for you when he/she can’t give you what you need.
Chapter 7/part 1 (p.65-72)
Answer the questions below in complete sentences.
1. What new clue to her past does Heidi find in the closet?
2. What does this clue probably prove?
3. What happens when Bernie tries to contact Hilltop Home?
4. Who is Thurman Hill?
5. What does Heidi think they should do when they can’t get any answers from Hilltop Home on the phone?
6. Why won’t Heidi’s plan work?
7. What happens when Heidi convinces Bernie to step out into the hallway?
Chapter 7/part 2 (p.72-end)
Answer the questions below in complete sentences.
1. How does Heidi get Bernie back into the apartment?
2. Why is Heidi afraid to call 911?
3. After Bernie’s collapse in the hall, “everything changed” between Heidi and Zander. He handed her “a tiny scrap of truth.” What does this mean? Why did things change? How does Heidi see Zander differently now?
4. Bernie says, “I’m a slave to the bean.” What does this mean?
5. What does Heidi decide to do at the end of this chapter?
6. How does Bernie respond?
7. Heidi gets angry at the way Bernie responds and says, “I’m not like you. You and Mama are the ones who match.” What does she mean?
8. If you were Heidi, would you make the same decision she does? If so, why? If not, what would you do instead?
9. Heidi says Thurman Hill is letting them “swing in the breeze.” What does this mean?
Chapter 8
Answer the questions below in complete sentences.
1. When Heidi calls the Greyhound station, what two things does she learn?
2. List at least three steps Heidi takes to execute her plan.
3. Where does Heidi get the money for her ticket?
4. How does she buy her ticket?
5. Judi tells the Greyhound clerk to “get a life.” She says it with anger, but Heidi likes the way this phrase sounds. Why?
6. Write about things that could go wrong with Heidi’s plan.
7. When Heidi tells Judi she’s going to Liberty, Judi doesn’t realize she’s talking about a town in New York. What does Judi think she means?
Chapter 9/part 1 (p. 86-92)
Answer the questions below in complete sentences.
1. What is the first lie Heidi ever tells Bernie?
2. How does Bernie react when Heidi tells her she bought a bus ticket to Liberty?
3. Bernie tells Heidi, “It doesn’t matter where you came from; it only matters that you’re here.” Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not?
4. Heidi says she feels like she doesn’t know herself anymore. What does she mean? Why does she feel this way?
5. Write about a time you felt this way.
6. When is the only time Heidi has ever seen the door between apartments closed?
Chapter 9/part 2 (p. 92-end)
Answer the questions below in complete sentences.
1. When Heidi leaves for Liberty, Mama asks, “Back soon?” Heidi answers yes, but in the next line says, “the truth was, I would not be back at all.” What does she mean?
2. What gift does Heidi give to Bernie? What does the gift reveal about Heidi?
3. What gift does Zander give to Heidi? What does the gift reveal about Zander?
4. How does Heidi plan to get from the Greyhound station in Liberty to Hilltop Home?
5. What is the second lie Heidi tells Bernie?
6. On her way to the Greyhound station, Heidi describes her feelings as a “strange hollow sensation in the pit of my stomach and my mouth tasted funny, metallic like the water from the drinking fountain at the library.” If you had to name this feeling, or mix of feelings, what would you call them?
7. Why do you think the author chose to describe Heidi’s feelings with sensory details like this?
8. Use this technique to write a sentence describing a powerful feeling you (or one of your characters) have felt?
9. Think of the story you are working on in Writers’ Workshop. If one of your characters gave another character a gift, who would give it, who would receive it and what would the gift be? Why would the character choose to give this gift?
Chapter 10/part 1 (p. 99-107)
Answer the questions below in complete sentences.
1. Write three things about Alice Wilinsky.
2. What is in the box Bernie gave to Heidi?
3. To pass the time on the bus, Heidi makes a list of things she hasn’t seen before. Make a list of at least five things you have never seen in real life before.
4. What is the lie Heidi tells Alice?
5. Why do you think Heidi lies to her?
6. Write about a time you told a lie like this. How did it make you feel?
Chapter 10/part 2 (p.107-end)
Answer the questions below in complete sentences.
1. How does Heidi feel when Alice talks about her grandma? Why does she feel this way?
2. Why do you think Heidi feels sick after she eats the pie Alice gives her?
3. What does Heidi tell Alice about her own grandma? Why do you think she says these things?
4. What does Heidi discover about lying in this chapter?
5. Write about a time you made this discovery.
6. Why does Heidi think Alice went along with her lie for so long? Why did Heidi go along with Zander’s lies? (Hint: the answer to both questions is the same.)
7. Heidi says finding out what lies underneath people’s lies is what interests her. What does she mean? What is the “stuff” underneath a lie?
8. How has Heidi’s character shifted in this chapter? (Think about how her perspective on Zander has changed. Think about how she felt when she first met Alice and how she feels when Alice leaves.)
Chapter 11/part 1 (p.116-123)
Answer the questions below in complete sentences.
1. Why does Heidi decide not to tell Bernie the truth about her talk with Alice when she calls home from Salt Lake City?
2. While Heidi is on the phone with Bernie a passing man lights a cigar. What does his smoke remind Heidi of?
3. Think of the story you are working on in Writers’ Workshop. Add a detail like this to one of your scenes—a sensory detail that triggers a memory for your character.
4. Heidi makes a list called Things I Know About Lying. How does her thinking change as she adds things to the list?
5. The first entry Heidi writes on the list is “lying is bad.” Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not?
6. What happens to Bernie’s phone during their conversation? Why?
7. Why do you think the author decided to include a problem like this in the chapter?
8. Why does Heidi buy coffee at the bus station?
9. By the time Heidi has to get back on the bus, the coffee’s “smell was working a darker kind of magic.” What does this mean?
Chapter 11/part 2 (p.123-29)
Answer the questions below in complete sentences.
1. Why do you think Heidi throws up when she leaves the phone booth?
2. What does Heidi whisper to herself as she runs to the trash can to vomit?
3. Why do you think she whispers this phrase?
4. Write three details about Georgia.
5. What is the first thing Georgia says to Heidi? How do you think Georgia’s words make Heidi feel? Why?
6. How is Georgia the opposite of Alice?
7. Georgia says, “It’s not like it shows on a person, what they don’t have.” Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not? Give an example that supports your opinion.