Book Group Questions Level 1 TextBased Questions Can

Book Group Questions

Level 1: Text-Based Questions • • • Can be answered by looking at the text. Have one right answer Comprehension questions Explain, Define, Clarify, Summarize, Paraphrase Ask these questions when you are confused about the plot, characters, setting, the meaning of a word; at the beginning of a book group meeting to make sure everyone understands the book and is on the same page.

Example Level 1 Questions • How did Ray Brauer die? • Are all the boys’ allowed to wander all alone– aren’t their parents worried about them? • Why does Teddy get so mad when the guy at the junkyard calls his dad a “loonie”?

Level 2: Interpretive Questions • Answer these through a combination of looking at the text, interpreting it, and making your own inference and judgment • May have more than one possible answer • Ask you to analyze the text and deepen your understanding of its beneath-the-surface meanings • Questions about Signposts

Example Level 2 Questions • In what ways is Gordy different from his friends? (contrast & contradiction) • Why is Gordy so obsessed with finding the body? (again & again) • How does Gordy grow up in the story? • What are some of themes of this story?

Level 3: Extension Questions • Can be answered by connecting what you know about the text to the world; go beyond the text • Connect text to other texts • Save for the end of a discussion • imagine, predict, evaluate, hypothesize, if questions

Example Level 3 Questions • If Denny had never died, how do you think Gordy would be different? • What are some rites of passage that Gordy went through that teenagers today also experience? • What do you think was the most important way that Gordy grew up in the story? What was his most important experience that made him grow up?