84 pages • 2 hours read
The Darkest Minds
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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 7
Reading Check
1. What is “White Noise”?
2. Where is Ruby sent after she survives IAAN and is picked up by Psi Special Forces?
3. Who gets Ruby out of the camp?
4. How much of the United States child population died due to IAAN?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How does the government handle those children and teens who survive IAAN?
2. What color is Ruby classified as, and why does she work so hard to cover up her true abilities?
3. What are the repercussions of Ruby reaching for Sam?
4. How does the Portuguese word saudade apply to Ruby?
5. In what ways do Martin and Ruby use their power differently?
6. Why does Ruby run away at the gas station?
Paired Resource
“How the Hitler Youth Turned a Generation of Kids Into Nazis”
- History presents two brief videos and a written exploration of Hitler’s targeting of young people to swell his ranks of Nazis.
- The information in this article connects to the theme Fear and Betrayal of the Young.
- What similarities exist between the Children’s League in the novel and the historical Hitler Youth?
CHAPTERS 8-15
Reading Check
1. In the new group, who argues Ruby should not stay with them?
2. How old does Ruby discover she is?
3. What does Ruby find from Zu in the hotel?
4. What clue does the group ask Ruby to solve?
5. Whom does the group find in the abandoned Walmart in Roanoke?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Right after the group in Black Betty first discovers Ruby, how do Ruby, Liam, Chubs, and Zu escape the pursuing vehicles?
2. What is East River and why are Liam, Chubs, and Zu looking for it?
3. How does Zu help the group escape while driving away from East River Camping Grounds, and why doesn’t Ruby tell the whole truth to the group about the escape?
4. How is Black Betty important to the friends?
Paired Resource
“Why We Remember Music and Forget Everything Else”
- This article from TIME examines the power of music and its connection to memory.
- The information in this resource connects to the themes The Importance of Memory and Choosing Your Own Home and Community.
- When does music conjure memories for the characters? What is the effect on each one?
“How To Make the Lasting Friendships You Want”
- Greater Good Magazine’s article explains techniques to build strong friendships.
- These techniques can be discussed in connection with the themes The Importance of Memory and Choosing Your Own Home and Community.
- Which of the strategies in this article does Ruby feel she cannot follow? Why?
CHAPTERS 16-23
Reading Check
1. What does Ruby realize 540 stands for?
2. How does Lady Jane find the four friends?
3. When Ruby kissed her parents the night before her 10th birthday, what happened?
4. Who is the Slip Kid?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How do Liam, Chubs, and Zu react when they realize Ruby’s real powers?
2. Why do the four friends leave Black Betty and how do they feel about doing so?
3. When is Ruby able to block Clancy from her mind and what does that reveal about her power?
4. What causes Liam, Ruby, Zu, and Chubs to drift apart at the East River Camp?
Paired Resource
- This Youth.gov resource explores injustice toward young people who are unhoused.
- The information in this resource connects to the theme Fear and Betrayal of the Young.
- What injustices have Ruby, Zu, Liam, and Chubs experienced?
CHAPTERS 24-31
Reading Check
1. Where do Zu and Hina go?
2. What do Chubs and Liam argue about after Zu leaves?
3. Who is Clancy manipulating at East River?
4. What does Ruby realize about Chubs?
5. What deal does Ruby make with Cate?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How does Clancy demonstrate his cruelty?
2. What leads to Ruby’s use of the panic button from the League and what does this reveal about her?
3. What does Chub’s letter to his parents reveal?
4. Why does Ruby remove Liam’s memories of her?
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- Shared themes include Fear and Betrayal of the Young, The Importance of Memory, and Choosing Your Own Home and Community.
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Reading Questions Answer Key
PROLOGUE-CHAPTER 7
Reading Check
1. A sound that causes pain to the young people in the camp, used to control them (Chapter 1)
2. Overnight to a warehouse; then to her placement at Camp Thurmond (Chapter 2)
3. Dr. Cate Begbie (Chapters 4-5)
4. About 98% (Chapter 6)
Short Answer
1. The government locks up children in camps. The camps are awful: They are in fact prisons with dangerous conditions and hardship. Authorities use physical pain such as the White Noise and intimidation to control the children. The government places more value on perceived safety of adults than helping and caring for the children who survived the deadly epidemic. (Chapters 1-7)
2. Ruby convinces the person examining her she is Green. She knows she is really Orange, but she witnesses those in authority taking away children classified as Oranges. She also hides her mind-control powers because she thinks they are harmful and does not want her peers to reject her if they know the truth. (Chapter 2)
3. When Ruby touches Sam, she accidentally sees her memories and erases Sam’s memories of Ruby. She loses a friend because Sam no longer knows her. (Chapter 3)
4. Cate explains that saudade translates into “the feeling you get when you realize something you once lost is lost forever.” (Chapter 6) She goes on to say, “But there’s a beginning in an end.” Ruby and so many children have lost a great deal: their families, their freedom, years in their lives. Ruby now is facing a new beginning too. (Chapter 6)
5. Martin targets people, making kids in the camp switch places with him and using his powers on Ruby. He also seems to take delight in doing so. Ruby, on the other hand, tries to avoid using her powers and goes out of her way to try not to harm others. (Chapters 6-7)
6. Ruby sees blood on Rob’s shirt and a memory he has of shooting two children. She runs for her own safety. She also runs because she does not want to be a pawn for the League. (Chapter 7)
CHAPTERS 8-15
Reading Check
1. Chubs (Chapter 8)
2. 16 (Chapter 9)
3. A red dress (Chapter 12)
4. What 540 means (Chapter 13)
5. Four teenage boys (Chapter 14)
Short Answer
1. Liam uses his ability to crash a tree in front of the pursuing car while Ruby drives for the first time. (Chapters 8-9)
2. East River is supposed to be a place where teenagers live freely together. The friends want to find some safety with peers and also contact their parents, which they have heard they can do there. It is also a step forward on their quest to deliver their friend Jack’s letter to his father. (Chapter 10)
3. Zu uses her ability to crash the cars, which kills one of their pursuers. Ruby knows Zu is traumatized already, so she does not reveal the man is dead. She also does not reveal her part in the escape in order to keep her powers secret. (Chapter 11)
4. Black Betty serves as a home to the group. The vehicle is used for safety, to evade capture, and to hide when necessary, like when Liam sees Lady Jane. (Chapters 8-15)
CHAPTERS 16-23
Reading Check
1. A radio station (Chapter 16)
2. A boy from the Walmart encampment tells her. (Chapter 18)
3. She accidentally erased their memories of her. (Chapter 19)
4. Clancy Gray, the son of the president (Chapters 20-21)
Short Answer
1. When her friends find out she has Orange powers, they accept her immediately. They ask questions but do not turn their backs on her as she feared. (Chapter 19)
2. The friends leave Black Betty because they think it is the safest option to avoid being caught by those tracking them. They are sad about leaving Black Betty, as evidenced by Zu leaving flowers on the windshield. Ruby also thinks about the practical implications of walking in the rain instead of driving. (Chapter 20)
3. Ruby blocks Clancy from her mind when she is daydreaming about her friends and does not want him to see. Her power seems to be connected to her feelings, and she can use it in a protective way. (Chapter 23)
4. Ruby works closely with Clancy, learning more about her powers. There are also clues Clancy is trying to keep her isolated from others. Liam is on night security duty. Zu has found a cousin and is attending school. Chubs has a different work assignment. The different ways in which the group is separated makes the friends more vulnerable. (Chapters 21-23)
CHAPTERS 24-31
Reading Check
1. To California to find Hina’s parents (Chapter 24)
2. Chubs accuses Liam of being selfish and not a good leader. (Chapter 24)
3. Everyone, but especially Ruby (Chapters 24-29)
4. Chubs is able to resist Clancy’s powers and has been resisting hers too. (Chapter 27)
5. If she lets Liam go, Ruby will stay with the League. (Chapter 31)
Short Answer
1. Clancy manipulates Ruby’s feelings and physically controls her. Ruby is aware the Clancy tries to have her believe that she wants intimacy with him, but she cannot remember what happens after blacking out. Clancy also taunts Ruby later, paralyzes Liam, and manipulates another teenager to hit Liam. (Chapters 25-27)
2. Jack’s father shoots Chubs, and Ruby uses the button to try to get him medical help and save him. This reveals that she is willing to risk her own outcome for her friends’ well-being. (Chapter 30)
3. The letter is blank, revealing that Chubs trusted Liam all along as a leader, despite his words to the contrary. (Chapter 31)
4. Ruby wants Liam to be safe and leave the League. His past actions suggest he would not leave Ruby in danger if he remembered their relationship. She has made a deal with Cate to save him, so she stays. (Chapter 31)
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