61 pages 2 hours read

Lois Lowry

The Silent Boy

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2003

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During Reading

Reading Questions & Paired Texts

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

PROLOGUE-CHAPTER 3

Reading Check

1. What profession did Katy “Docky” Thatcher know she wanted to have from the age of 13?

2. What is the name of the Thatchers’ private cook, whom Peggy is hired to assist?

3. In Chapter 3, Katy’s father heads to Schuyler’s Mill to treat a worker with what injury?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What object does Docky, mistakenly, think is called a “mazing”? Why does she believe this?

2. Who is “Evangeline Emerson”?

Paired Resource

The Secret is There Are No Secrets: An Interview with Lois Lowry

  • In this 2016 interview with Rookie, Lois Lowry discusses life, her writing, and “appreciating where you are right now.”
  • Lowry touches upon her writing The Silent Boy and discusses how the interplay between photography and memory greatly influenced the project.
  • How does photography influence Lowry as a writer, exactly? How is that evident in the opening chapters of The Silent Boy?

CHAPTERS 4-7

Reading Check

1. On the snow day in Chapter 5, Jessie Wood brings what toy to share among the children?

2.