View a FREE sample

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 1.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. From where does the title of the novel get its name?
(a) The confusion the boy feels by not understanding what he reads.
(b) The loneliness of reading alone and the boy's feeling of being alone.
(c) The sadness felt by the boy after being forced to read only at night.
(d) The boy's reading of his first book.

2. In Chapter 1, why doesn't the boy's mother want him to cross by the window at the top of the stairs?
(a) The window is broken and glass shards cover the floor.
(b) She senses a ghost nearby.
(c) Someone outside will see him.
(d) Rain is pouring in from the open window.

3. In Chapter 1, what causes the boy's mother to become inconsolable?
(a) She loses her job.
(b) One of her children dies.
(c) Her husband leaves.
(d) The boy becomes sick.

4. Who gives a gun to the boy's father?
(a) A local policeman.
(b) His grandfather.
(c) A family friend.
(d) A German sailor.

5. In what year does the novel begin?
(a) 1945.
(b) 1936.
(c) 1948.
(d) 1921.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Chapter 1, where does the boy's mother ask him to take flowers?

2. What happens to the boy when the police come to search the house?

3. Who does the boy find out is responsible for the murder of 1921?

4. What happens to Billy Mahon?

5. What happened to the boy's sister, Una, in 1948?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 294 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample