63 pages • 2 hours read
Jack ChengSee You in the Cosmos
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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This flexible-use quiz is designed for reading comprehension assessment and activity needs in classroom, home-schooling and other settings. Questions connect to the text’s plot, characters, and themes — and align with the content and chapter organization in the rest of this study guide. Use quizzes as pre-reading hooks, reading checks, discussion starters, entrance/exit “tickets,” small group activities, writing activities, and lessons on finding evidence and support in a text.
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- Recall and Understand Content (e.g., who, what, where, when)
- Apply and Analyze Ideas (e.g., how and why)
Chapters 1 - 8
1. What inspired Alex to record his experiences and send his Golden iPod to space?
A) his brother Ronnie’s senior physics project
B) Lander Civet’s first planned rocket launch
C) Carl Sagan’s experiment with Voyager 1 and 2
D) his father’s achievement as a civil engineer
2. Who helps Alex board the train for SHARF?
3. Based on details Alex relays by the time he meets Zed, which of these statements can be inferred?
A) Alex’s mother is seeking treatment for depression.
B) Ronnie travels home to check on Alex every few months.
C) Alex looks to Mr. Bashir and Mr. Fogerty as father figures.
D) Alex makes independent decisions without supervision.
4. Using Ancestry.com, what information does Alex try to find for a school project? (short answer)
5. Who are the intended audience members of Alex’s recordings? (short answer)
6. How does Alex already know some of the attendees at SHARF? (short answer)
Chapters 9 - 17
7. At SHARF, which of these events turns the plot in a new direction?
A) Alex’s rocket wins its division.
B) Alex meets Lander Civet.
C) Alex misses his ride with Calexico.
D) Alex decides to find his father.
8. Who is the SHARF organizer who gives Alex his business card?
A) Ken Russell
B) Elisa Scott
C) Lander Civet
D) Judith Bloomington
9. Which pair of descriptors represents the best characterization for Steve in the chapters before, during, and just after SHARF?
A) cheerful and popular
B) moody and sad
C) fussy and opinionated
D) tired and uncaring
10. The night before the rocket competition, with what task does Zed help Alex? (short answer)
11. In what way is the Ancestry.com notification Alex receives at SHARF confusing to him? (short answer)
12. When Alex phones Ronnie for permission to travel with Zed and Steve, what is Ronnie’s response? (short answer)
Chapters 18 - 25
13. Of these, which character reaction prompts Zed to begin talking aloud?
A) Alex’s distress at Steve for losing Carl Sagan
B) Steve’s revelation of Zed’s past to Alex
C) the bartender’s mention of Steve’s whereabouts
D) Steve’s girlfriend’s angry phone call
14. Who suggests moving on to Los Angeles right after lunch at the Bellagio?
15. Of these, how do Alex and Terra confirm that they are half-siblings?
A) Each shows photos of his or her father; it is the same person.
B) Terra’s mother Donna arrives; she reveals that they are related.
C) Zed finds hospital forms in Donna’s closet; they state Alex’s parentage.
D) Alex calls Ronnie in Los Angeles; Ronnie tells Alex about Terra.
16. Why does Alex call Cheryl? (short answer)
17. What prompts Terra to leave Donna’s house? (short answer)
18. Late at night in Las Vegas, what does Alex request of his recordings’ audience members? (short answer)
Chapters 26 - 34
19. Which of these descriptions is closest to the “type” of woman Alex favors, according to him in his conversation with Terra?
A) a successful scientist
B) a famous rock star
C) a considerate teacher
D) a retired actress
20. Judging by Terra’s actions on the way to Los Angeles and at Steve’s and Zed’s apartment, which of these character traits is most accurate for her?
A) disciplined
B) spontaneous
C) grim
D) studious
21. Terra and Alex both find the Russells to have what kind of relationship?
A) passionate and dramatic
B) troubled and anxious
C) respectful and realistic
D) romantic and impractical
22. Who harshly tells Alex about the “real world” and the unlikelihood of success with launching his Golden iPod? (short answer)
23. At the Russells’ house, where do Terra and Alex sleep? (short answer)
24. After the Russells’ house, what is Terra’s and Alex’s next planned destination? (short answer)
Chapters 35 - 42
25. What happens to cause Terra to drive to the hospital?
A) Alex falls off the roof.
B) Steve wrecks his car.
C) Donna needs a ride.
D) Terra cuts herself with a knife.
26. Based on Terra’s recordings, what does she worry about regarding Alex’s mother?
A) Alex’s mother will soon lose her job.
B) Alex’s mother is late with house payments.
C) Alex’s mother doesn’t seem to live with him.
D) Alex’s mother left days before to find him.
27. Who clarifies to Ronnie the strong need for him to come home to Rockview?
28. How does Carl Sagan get home? (short answer)
29. What information does Ronnie direct Alex to stop sharing with teachers, neighbors, and friends? (short answer)
Chapters 43 - 47
30. When Alex visits his mother in the hospital, what is her reaction?
A) She ignores him.
B) She begs him to forgive her.
C) She asks for money.
D) She does not recognize him.
31. Which of the following theories does Ronnie explain to Alex about their father after they visit their mother?
A) He lost his job and began gambling in Las Vegas.
B) He wed Terra’s mother while already married.
C) He dreamed of designing rockets as an engineer.
D) He was physically abusive and an alcoholic.
32. Why does everyone begin to help clean Alex’s house and yard?
A) The neighbors complained.
B) Alex asked them to.
C) A social worker is visiting.
D) Alex’s mother is coming home.
33. Who has the idea to post a request for donations on Rocketforum.org? (short answer)
34. Why does Alex lock himself in a room at his house? (short answer)
35. What does Lander Civet invite Alex to do? (short answer)
Chapters 48 - 52
36. As the characters prepare for Juanita to arrive, what does Alex decide regarding the idea of a “dad”?
A) He doesn’t need anyone in his life to be a dad.
B) Ronnie would be a good dad if he could be around more.
C) His mother was both mom and dad when she was home.
D) Many people in his life fulfill dad characteristics.
37. Of these changes, which one does Ronnie realize he must make as a result of Juanita’s comments?
A) Ronnie must move back to Rockview.
B) Ronnie must take Alex and his mother to L.A.
C) Ronnie must find a more respectable job.
D) Ronnie must take out a loan to cover hospital fees.
38. Besides Alex, who goes to Florida?
39. For what purpose does Ronnie think the extra donated money (beyond Alex’s hospital fees) should be used? (short answer)
40. For Juanita’s visit, what does Ronnie say he, Terra, and Alex should do to show their solidarity? (short answer)
Answers
1. C. Alex is inspired by the Golden Record his hero Carl Sagan included on the Voyager 1 and 2 launches.
2. A. Alex is too young to board the Amtrak train as an adult. A young man whom Alex does not know poses as his older brother to help him board.
3. D. Alex has not seen Ronnie in a year; his mother has “quiet days” and offers no resistance to Alex’s solo trip to SHARF; Alex plans the trip and leaves home on his own.
4. He tries to investigate his father’s life on Ancestry.com.
5. Alex is making the recordings for extraterrestrial life forms (aliens in outer space).
6. He met them virtually on Rocketforum.org, an online community of hobby rocket enthusiasts.
7. D. Alex decides to find his father and embarks on a quest to Las Vegas with Zed and Steve.
8. A. Ken Russell gives Alex his card and tells him to look him up if he’s ever in Taos.
9. C. Steve worries about the cleanliness of his backseat, shows concern for his girlfriend’s requests, and complains about the prospect of taking Alex to Vegas and Los Angeles.
10. Zed helps Alex build his tent.
11. The notification indicates Alex’s father was married to a woman named Donna in Las Vegas. Alex doesn’t understand how this can be true unless his father had amnesia.
12. Ronnie, not really listening, doesn’t say yes, but neither does he forbid it; Alex takes this as permission.
13. A. Zed comforts Alex when they realize Carl Sagan is missing.
14. D. Steve suggests moving on in their travels, and Alex states it is too soon.
15. A. Alex and Terra compare the images of their father in old photos they have.
16. Cheryl is the woman at Animal Control in Las Vegas. Alex calls to see if anyone brought in Carl Sagan.
17. Terra leaves because she and her mother Donna argue about Alex and his father.
18. Alex wants the aliens to him find Carl Sagan with their time travel skills.
19. AAlex tells Terra his “type” is someone like Dr. Judith Bloomington, a research scientist and astrophysicist.
20. B. Terra is impulsive, spontaneously making choices such as drinking and dancing without regard for consequences.
21. C. The Russells demonstrate respect for one another (such as when Ken asks Diane if she minds if Terra and Alex stay the night) and paint a picture of a relationship grounded in compromise and hard work.
22. Steve
23. the Russells’ observatory
24. Rockview (Alex’s home)
25. Alex went to the roof to try to see his mother walking home.
26. C. Terra worries that Alex’s mother does not live there at all.
27. D. Terra tells Ronnie he must come home.
28. Steve and Zed pick up Carl Sagan and drive him to Rockview.
29. that he is left at home unsupervised when his mother goes away on “walks”
30. D. Alex’s mother does not appear to recognize Ronnie nor Alex; she insists Alex is an alien who took her memories. She has been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
31. B. Ronnie explains that he, Alex, and Terra have the same father because their father briefly married Terra’s mother Donna on his business travels while married to Alex’s mother.
32. C. A social worker is coming to investigate Alex’s family, and Ronnie wants the house to be clean.
33. Steve
34. Ronnie and Terra will not let him visit his mother nor keep him informed on her progress.
35. Lander invites Alex to come to Cape Canaveral to see the Mars satellite launch.
36. D. Alex decides “dad” is more of an abstract noun like “love” or “bravery,” and that people close to him (like Ronnie and Terra) can be role models, caretakers, advice-givers, and companions.
37. A. Juanita makes it clear that it would be in Alex’s best interest to stay in the state, as his mother lives there. Consequently, Ronnie will have to move home.
38. D. Ronnie, Terra, and Carl Sagan accompany Alex to Florida for the Cape Canaveral launch.
39. Alex’s college education
40. sit side-by-side on the sofa
