84 pages • 2 hours read
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
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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.
Book 1, Chapters 1-5
Reading Check
1. In what year does A Tree Grows in Brooklyn begin?
2. What is Francie’s brother’s name?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What place does Francie frequent each day, and what does this show about her character?
2. What did Katie give Johnny as a wedding present, and what is Johnny’s connection to the gift?
Books 1-2, Chapters 6-10
Reading Check
1. What does Francie ask the butcher to chop up along with the meat she buys?
2. How long did Katie and Johnny know each other before getting married?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How did Thomas Rommely, Katie’s father, feel about her marriage? Why did he feel that way?
Book 2, Chapters 11-14
Reading Check
1. How does Johnny celebrate his 21st birthday?
2. What toy does Sissy take from the street and give to Francie and Neely?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What does Katie agree to do concerning Johnny’s drinking, and how does she really feel about it?
2. How do the neighborhood kids view Francie, and how does this affect her?
Paired Resource
“Irish-Catholic Immigration to America”
- This page from the Library of Congress discusses the second wave of Irish immigration to the United States after the start of the 1845 potato famine.
- This resource connects to the theme of The Correlation of Class and Shame.
- When and why did people from Ireland immigrate to the United States? How were they treated, and how did they influence American society in the early 20th century? How does this help to better understand the Nolans’ background and lived experience?
Book 3, Chapters 15-20
Reading Check
1. What is growing in the yard at the house on Grand Street?
2. What do Francie and Neeley have to get vaccinated for before attending school?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What agreement do Katie and the Tynmores make, and how was that agreement reached?
2. What does Sissy realize about Francie when she comes home from school, and how does Sissy respond?
Book 3, Chapters 21-25
Reading Check
1. Which teachers are the highlights of Francie’s school experience?
2. What new skill does Francie believe will help her never be lonely again?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What does Francie ask Johnny for regarding her education, and how does Johnny help her?
2. What does Katie still require Francie to do during lunchtime? What is her reasoning?
Book 3, Chapters 26-30
Reading Check
1. How tall is the Christmas tree does Francie and Neely win?
2. On what unusual outing does Johnny take Francie, Neely, and Little Tilly?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What does Francie lie about at school on Thanksgiving Day, and how does her teacher handle this lie?
Paired Resource
- This opening chapter from Jeannette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle recalls an encounter the author had with her mother who lives unhoused by choice in New York City.
- This chapter connects to the theme of The Correlation of Class and Shame.
- In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Francie struggles at times to balance her love for her father with his drinking and unreliability and the feeling of shame this often brings the family. How is a similar struggle shown in Jeannette Walls’ opening chapter to her memoir?
Book 3, Chapters 31-35
Reading Check
1. What is the name of the horse who falls in love with Aunt Evy?
2. What word in Francie’s diary does Katie make Francie replace with the word “sick”?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What is the doctor’s suggestion regarding how to talk to Francie about the violent attack, and what does this suggestion show about the prevailing ideas regarding sexual abuse at the time?
Book 3, Chapters 36-40
Reading Check
1. How old was Johnny when he died?
2. Who is Mr. McGarrity?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What is Johnny’s official cause of death, and how does Katie react to it?
2. What does Francie offer to do when she turns 14, and how does Katie respond?
Books 3-4, Chapters 41-45
Reading Check
1. What is the new baby’s name?
2. What moves Katie to tears at the end of Chapter 44?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why does Sissy attend Francie’s graduation, and how does Francie feel about this?
Book 4, Chapters 46-50
Reading Check
1. How does Neeley respond to Francie’s heartfelt rooftop confessions about wishing for a lover?
2. What does Francie make on the day the US enters the war to remember the significance of the day?
3. What medical intervention does Sissy’s baby need at the hospital?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What shift does Francie work at her new job as a typist and what does this enable her to do?
Paired Resource
“US Entry into World War I, 1917”
- This short article from the US Department of State explains the events and reasoning behind the United States’ involvement in World War I.
- This article can loosely connect to the unit’s three themes but is mostly helpful for its topical connections to the novel.
- America’s impending involvement in WWI looms large in the later chapters of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. What was happening at the time that would eventually lead the US to join the war? How does this help the reader better understand some of what Francie and Neeley might have been grappling with as young people coming of age during this time?
Books 4-5, Chapters 51-56
Reading Check
1. What does Francie promise Lee before he goes overseas to the war?
2. From whom does Katie receive a letter in Chapter 53?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How do Francie and Neeley react to Laurie taking on the McShane last name, and what does this show about their relationship?
Paired Resource
- This poem by Amy Lowell reflects on the intersection of an ordinary and beautiful day amid the backdrop of a much larger struggle, in this case, World War I.
- This poem can connect to the theme of Being a Woman in Turn-of-the-20th-Century America.
- Lowell’s poem considers how difficult it can be to be present in the ordinary, the mundane, when there is something larger and more significant looming in the background. How can this poem be compared to some of what Francie endures in the novel? Aside from the obvious similarity of WWI, are there times in which Francie is also consumed with “endeavor[ing] to balance [herself] upon a broken world?”
Recommended Next Reads
Go Tell it On the Mountain by James Baldwin
- This semi-autobiographical novel by James Baldwin is set on the 14th birthday of John Grimes, a teenager in 1930s Harlem.
- Shared themes include The Correlation of Class and Shame.
- Shared topics include the role religion plays in shaping identity, social and cultural barriers, education, and coming of age.
- Go Tell it On the Mountain on SuperSummary
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
- This 1984 novel by Sandra Cisneros follows the life of Esperanza Cordero, a young Latinx girl coming of age in Chicago.
- Shared themes include The Correlation of Class and Shame and Being a Woman in Turn-of-the-20th-Century America.
- Shared topics include coming of age, feminism and sexism, and education and writing as a means of liberation.
- The House on Mango Street on SuperSummary
Reading Questions Answer Key
Book 1, Chapters 1-5
Reading Check
1. 1912 (Chapter 1)
2. Neeley (Various chapters)
Short Answer
1. She goes to the library and checks out a book each day and two on Sunday. This shows her love for reading and intense curiosity. (Chapter 2)
2. She gave him two pearl studs, which Johnny was very proud of. He never pawned them, even when the family was particularly destitute. (Chapter 3)
Books 1-2, Chapters 6-10
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. Thomas never forgave her for getting married, because he expected his children to make money for him once they became teenagers, and Katie married and left at a young age. (Chapter 7)
Book 2, Chapters 11-14
Reading Check
1. “[G]etting drunk for three days” (Chapter 11)
2. A tricycle (Chapter 14)
Short Answer
1. Katie agrees to try to overlook Johnny’s alcohol addiction, but deep down she “knew that she was not the overlooking kind.” (Chapter 11)
2. She is viewed as strange, and they don’t want to play with her. Francie is left feeling lonely and isolated and invents games to play by herself. (Chapter 13)
Book 3, Chapters 15-20
Reading Check
1. A tree (Chapter 15)
2. Smallpox (Chapter 18)
Short Answer
1. They agree that Katie will exchange one hour of cleaning for one hour of music lessons each week. They settle on this when they finally agree that time-for-time is an equal exchange. (Chapter 17)
2. Sissy realizes that Francie has wet her pants because she was not allowed to leave the classroom. Sissy attempts to comfort Francie by telling her even the Queen of England wet her pants as a child. (Chapter 19)
Book 3, Chapters 21-25
Reading Check
1. The music and art teachers (Chapter 21)
2. Learning to read (Chapter 22)
Short Answer
1. Francie asks Johnny if she can go to a better school with a yard and grass. Johnny tells her that they will say she’s staying with a relative who lives in that neighborhood, and that sometimes it’s ok to do something wrong for a greater good. (Chapter 23)
2. Katie requires Francie to walk the 48 blocks back home for lunch because she wants Francie to remain a child for as long as she can. (Chapter 23)
Book 3, Chapters 26-30
Reading Check
1. 10 feet (Chapter 27)
2. A rowboat ride in the harbor (Chapter 29)
Short Answer
1. Francie lies about eating a pumpkin pie, and her teacher suggests that instead of lying, she start writing stories. (Chapter 26)
Book 3, Chapters 31-35
Reading Check
1. Drummer (Chapter 31)
2. “[D]runk” (Chapter 32)
Short Answer
1. The doctor tells Katie and Johnny to tell Francie that the attack was all a dream and not to talk about it otherwise. This demonstrates that people were uncomfortable confronting sex and sexual violence and shows the doctor’s poor understanding of trauma and mental health conditions. (Chapter 33)
Book 3, Chapters 36-40
Reading Check
1. 34 years old (Chapter 36)
2. The saloon keeper (Chapter 38)
Short Answer
1. Johnny’s cause of death is listed as “acute alcoholism” and “pneumonia.” Katie requests that they only write down that he died of pneumonia to protect her children. (Chapter 36)
2. Francie offers to quit school and get her working papers so she can support the family, but Katie asks her to stay until she graduates. (Chapter 38)
Books 3-4, Chapters 41-45
Reading Check
1. Laurie (Chapter 41)
2. Francie and Neeley present her with their first earned wages. (Chapter 44)
Short Answer
1. Sissy goes to Francie’s graduation because Katie goes to Neeley’s. Francie feels disappointed, but she knows that if Johnny were alive, he would have attended. (Chapter 42)
Book 4, Chapters 46-50
Reading Check
1. Neely says Francie must be drunk. (Chapter 46)
2. A time capsule (Chapter 48)
3. Oxygen (Chapter 50)
Short Answer
1. She works at night which gives her the opportunity to attend college courses during the day. (Chapter 48)
Books 4-5, Chapters 51-56
Reading Check
1. That she will marry him (Chapter 52)
2. Mr. McShane (Chapter 53)
Short Answer
1. Francie and Neeley are supportive of Mr. McShane adopting Laurie, and they laugh together about how much easier (but perhaps less fun) Laurie’s childhood will be. This shows their closeness as siblings and the perspective they’ve gained on their younger years. (Chapter 54)
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