by James Lincoln Collier & Christopher Collier, 1974
The life of a family struggling to survive during the Revolutionary War.
ISBN-13: 9780590427920
LEXILE SCORE: 770L
BOOKSELLER
Discussion/Study Questions
CHAPTERS 1-5
1. Why has Sam left college?
2. What’s the big dispute, or issue, between Sam and his father?
3. Why does Sam steal his father’s musket?
4. Why does Tim try to return the musket to his father?
5. What does Mr. Heron want Tim to do?
6. The citizens of Redding don’t all agree about the colonist-British dispute. What are some of the conflicting ideas among the residents of Redding?
7. What does Tim admire about his brother? What does he dislike?
8. Point of View: From whose point of view is this story told?
9. External conflict: What conflict in the outside world are citizens of Redding facing?
10. With whom is Tim in conflict?
11. Tim’s father has a violent temper. How does Tim cope with it? What do you think of Tim’s way of coping with it?
12. Do you think Tim would really have shot his brother if Sam hadn’t managed to get the gun back?
CHAPTERS 6 — 9
1. Why does Betsy struggle to get the message Tim is carrying?
2. What does the message really say?
3. Why do Tim and his father journey to Verplancks Point?
4. What calamity happens as Tim and his father head home?
5. Why does Tim try to avoid Mr. Heron?
6. What is Tim’s attitude toward lying? Why, in spite of his attitude, does Tim begin to lie to his father?
7. On the journey home, how does Tim avoid capture by the cowboys?
8. Internal conflict: What contrasting ideas and values does Tim struggle with inside his mind?
9. Have you ever been in a highly dangerous situation?
10. What actions did you take right away? Looking back, do you think these actions were effective?
11. What do you think of Mr. Meeker’s viewpoint?
CHAPTER 10 — EPILOGUE
1.Why do the British troops arrest Captain Betts, Mr. Rogers, and Jerry Sanford?
2.What awful event does Tim witness at Captain Starr’s house?
3.Why is Sam allowed to come back to Redding?
4.What has happened to Tim’s father?
5.Who arrests Sam? What is he accused of?
6.What finally happens to Sam?.
7.Tim says that he “grows up” after his father’s disappearance. In what ways does Tim show that he’s grown up?
8.Tim remembers these words his father often said: “In war the dead pay the
debts of the living.” How do you think these words apply to ‘him?
9. Irony: Irony is the contrast between what one would expect to happen and what
actually happens. What’s ironic about Mr. Meeker dying on a British prison ship?
10. How would you describe Tim’s feelings in the Epilogue? Do you think his feelings are natural, or strange? Explain.
11. Suppose you could write a “happy ending” to this story. What would happen in
your happy ending?
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