69 pages • 2 hours read
Gordon KormanThe Juvie Three
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2008A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
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.
CHAPTERS 1-8
Reading Check
1. How does the setting change between Chapter 1 and Chapter 2?
2. What job does Gecko have at “juvie”?
3. What is Arjay’s only question for Healy?
4. What type of “business transaction” does Terrence see in the school bathroom?
5. In addition to school, what are “The Juvie Three” expected to do each week?
6. How did Arjay get the nickname “Zep” while he was in Remsenville?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What happens in the opening scene? What is the outcome of Gecko’s actions?
2. What does Douglas Healy propose to Gecko?
3. Who is Arjay Moran? What happens after his interaction with Healy?
4. Who is Terence Florian? Why does his counselor Kellerman tell him that he is very lucky?
5. What does Healy reveal to Kellerman about why he specifically chose “The Juvie Three?”
6. How do the boys spend their one free day every week? How do they feel about this activity?
Paired Resources
- Britannica Kids defines and explores the history of halfway houses, or residential reentry centers.
- This relates to the theme The Future Is Not Reliant on the Past.
- How are halfway houses a better alternative for at-risk youth than juvenile detention centers?
“A Different Approach to High-Risk Youths”
- In this article from Social Work Today, Peter Smyth discusses the challenges of and strategies for working with the high-risk youth population.
- This relates to the theme Honesty and Self-Awareness Is Integral for Growth.
- How do the adults in The Juvie Three provide support? Would you say that Korman’s adult characters use the strategies in the above article? Why or why not?
CHAPTERS 9-17
Reading Check
1. Which of Healy’s rules does Arjay consider breaking?
2. What object does Healy and “The Juvie Three” use as a football?
3. Why is DeAndre angry with Terence?
4.What offer does Mr. Cantor make to Arjay?
5. What does DeAndre give Terence to thank him?
6. What does freedom equal, according to Arjay?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What does Gecko oversee Terence doing that could get “The Juvie Three” into trouble? Summarize their conversation.
2. What are the two types of participants in the group counseling session, according to Gecko? How does he feel about the differences?
3. What unfortunate accident happens when Terence tries to sneak out of the house? What do the boys do about it?
4. Who is Roxanne? How does Gecko meet her?
5. What happens when Healy wakes up in the hospital? What does Gecko decide to do?
6. What does Arjay see at the concert? What is he inspired to do?
Paired Resource
“5 Reasons Group Therapy is the Best Choice Struggling Teens”
- This article from Psychology Today explores the benefits of group therapy compared to traditional one-on-one therapy in improving the lives of teenagers.
- This relates to the theme Honesty and Self-Awareness Is Integral for Growth.
- What are some of the advantages of group therapy? Why does group therapy help more teenagers than individual sessions?
CHAPTERS 18-26
Reading Check
1. Why does Terence forcibly enter DeAndre’s house?
2. Where does Roxanne invite Gecko?
3. What is Terence’s initiation into DeAndre’s gang?
4. What item is banned for any state-funded mental health provider?
5. How does Roxanne offer to help the boys?
6. What word does Healy use to describe his new hospital placement?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What do the boys argue about while planning their week? What is their main concern?
2. Which one of their peers do the boys see at Arjay’s first performance? How do they react?
3. Who visits Gecko at school? What does this person ask of Gecko, and how does he respond?
4. Which two events bring “The Juvie Three” anxiety about their living situation?
5. Why do the boys visit the hospital? What do they learn?
Paired Resource
“Police Corruption: An Analytical Look into Police Ethics”
- This article from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) analyzes police ethics and behavior.
- This connects to the themes of The Future Is Not Reliant on the Past and Honesty and Self-Awareness Is Integral for Growth.
- How does Rich Martin portray the leadership, work environment, and subculture of law enforcement professionals?
CHAPTERS 27-34
Reading Check
1. What does Mrs. Liebowitz do when she sees DeAndre harassing “The Juvie Three” outside the apartment building?
2. What is Delancey’s one condition for letting the group go without pressing charges?
3. Which object almost makes Ms. Vaughn fail her inspection of the apartment?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What is the plan that Roxanne and “The Juvie Three” devise? Does the situation go according to their plan? Why or why not?
2. Who is waiting for the group when they return home? What happens during this scene?
3. What is the setting for the final scene in the novel? Who does Gecko see?
Recommended Next Reads
Schooled by Gordon Korman
- This 2007 middle-grade novel explores the challenges a young boy named Capricorn Anderson faces as he switches from homeschool to middle school.
- Shared themes include The Future Is Not Reliant on the Past, Honesty and Self-Awareness Is Integral for Growth, and Blood Family and Found Family.
- Shared topics include new environments and challenging situations at school.
- Schooled on SuperSummary
True Notebooks: A Writer’s Year at Juvenile Hall by Mark Salzman
- This 2003 autobiography recounts Salzman’s time teaching writing to adolescents at LA’s Central Juvenile Hall.
- Shared themes include The Future Is Not Reliant on the Past, Honesty and Self-Awareness Is Integral for Growth, and Blood Family and Found Family.
- Shared topics include mentoring at-risk youth and the effect of juvenile detention centers on adolescents.
- True Notebooks: A Writer’s Year at Juvenile Hall on SuperSummary
Reading Questions Answer Key
CHAPTERS 1-8
Reading Check
1. Chapter 1 begins in a stolen getaway car, and Chapter 2 begins in the Jerome Atchison Juvenile Detention Center. (Chapters 1-2)
2. Working in the laundry (Chapter 2)
3. If he can bring his guitar (Chapter 3)
4. A kid selling cell phones (Chapter 5)
5. 12 hours of community service (Chapter 6)
6. Because he played Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” frequently (Chapter 8)
Short Answer
1. The novel begins with Graham “Gecko” Fosse driving a stolen car to help his brother Reuben with theft. As they drive away, he gets in a car accident. He is then sent to the Jerome Atchison Juvenile Detention Center, and Reuben is sent to prison. (Chapters 1-2)
2. Douglas Healy is creating an alternative living house (i.e., “halfway house”) for boys in “juvie” and offers Gecko a place to live there with two other boys. (Chapter 2)
3. Similar to Gecko, Arjay is the next child that Healy is considering for his alternative living situation. Arjay is “a six-foot-five, 260-pound African American, built like a wrestler” who is in the youth detention center because he is convicted of manslaughter. After conversing with Healy, he also accepts the offer to move to the halfway house. (Chapter 3)
4. Terence Florian is the third candidate that Healy has requested for the halfway house. Kellerman calls him lucky because his prior detention center was also exclusive; however, he found that living situation unbearable. (Chapter 3)
5. Healy reveals to Kellerman that he chose Gecko, Arjay, and Terence because each of their situations reminded him of his past experiences in “juvie.” By focusing on a smaller group of boys, he hopes he can truly make a difference. (Chapter 4)
6. On their day off, the boys are expected to attend a group counseling session with other adolescents. The boys struggle with taking it seriously; they are pleased that their psychotherapist, Dr. Avery, resembles a “supermodel.” (Chapter 7)
CHAPTERS 9-17
Reading Check
1. Speaking to his family before the six-month probation period (Chapter 10)
2. A loaf of rye bread (Chapter 10)
3. Because Terence did not show up to their meeting the night before (Chapter 14)
4. Mr. Cantor offers to work with Arjay during his lunch breaks. (Chapter 14)
5. A new video iPod (Chapter 14)
6. “Possibility” (Chapter 16)
Short Answer
1. During lunch, Gecko sees Terence talking to DeAndre off school property. Since Terence is breaking Healy’s rules, Gecko furiously calls Terence back inside, reprimanding him for his actions. Terence says he has plans that he does not want Gecko interfering with. (Chapter 9)
2. As the counseling sessions progress, Gecko realizes the divide between two types of adolescents in his cohort: “Casey, Drew, and Victoria are regular teens who need a little therapeutic help […]. Gecko, Arjay, and Terence, by contrast, are hard-core criminals.” Gecko does not believe Dr. Avery will be able to bridge the gap between the group. (Chapter 10)
3. As Terence tries to sneak out of the apartment to meet DeAndre, he is caught by his roommates and Healy. In an accident, Healy falls over the fire escape onto the pavement, bleeding and seriously injured. After deliberating, the boys decide to hotwire a car and drive him to the hospital. (Chapter 11)
4. Gecko decides to skip school to visit Healy in the hospital. Since the boys took Healy’s wallet from him when they left him at the hospital, he is listed as “John Doe” on his chart. As Gecko investigates, he meets Roxanne, a young nursing volunteer, who mistakes him for a member of her volunteer cohort. (Chapter 13)
5. Healy has amnesia when he wakes up, unable to remember his or others’ identities. Watching these events unfold, Gecko panics about whether or not to reveal his identity and decides to leave the room. (Chapter 15)
6. When Arjay attends a concert for a local band, he sees an advertisement for a guitarist. They invite him for an audition. (Chapters 16-17)
CHAPTERS 18-26
Reading Check
1. “[T]o make a statement” (Chapter 18)
2. To a party on her family’s yacht (Chapter 19)
3. To beat up a homeless woman and push her into a fountain (Chapter 22)
4. “Metal cutlery” (Chapter 23)
5. By transferring her volunteer work to Bronx County Psychiatric Hospital so she can help the boys enter and get Healy out (Chapter 25)
6. “Purgatory” (Chapter 26)
Short Answer
1. The boys have an argument about maintaining the appearance that Healy is still supervising them. Although they are completing his tasks, as well as staying on top of their own responsibilities, they are running out of money for food. (Chapter 19)
2. Gecko and Terence see Casey, their peer from group counseling, at Arjay’s performance. The two boys are concerned that Casey will tell Dr. Avery she saw them; however, Arjay, who is not concerned, uses the opportunity to kiss her so she will keep a secret. (Chapter 20)
3. During his class, Gecko is called to speak with Mike Delancey, the police officer at Roxanne’s father’s party. Delancey knows that Gecko is in a halfway house and reveals that Roxanne’s father wants to end Gecko and Roxanne’s relationship, or else Gecko will be sent back to the detention center. Gecko is initially relieved that Delancey does not know Healy is missing, but he is devastated at the prospect of ending the relationship with Roxanne. In the end, Gecko complies with her father’s request. (Chapter 21)
4. Casey reveals to Dr. Avery in a group counseling session that Arjay is in a band, prompting her to tell the boys to have Healy call her. Ms. Vaughn also says in a voicemail that she will visit the house in six days. (Chapter 23)
5. The boys visit the hospital to speak with Healy and reveal the truth of his situation; however, he has been transferred to Bronx County Psychiatric Hospital. After some deliberation, they decide to try and break him out from the psychiatric ward. (Chapter 24)
CHAPTERS 27-34
Reading Check
1. She pours water on him and announces that she will call the police if he does not leave. (Chapter 27)
2. For Gecko and Roxanne to end their relationship (Chapter 32)
3. Healy’s broken bowling trophy (Chapter 33)
Short Answer
1. The four of them decide to try and move Healy out the back kitchen door, where “The Juvie Three” would be waiting in a truck. Although there is some traffic, the boys arrive in time and transfer Healy quickly into the car. When the police arrive, they begin a car chase. (Chapters 28-29)
2. When “The Juvie Three,” Healy, and Roxanne enter the apartment, they see DeAndre. Deandre quickly takes Terence hostage, and the boys start fighting. Delancy and the NYPD break up the fight. On the fire escape, Healy suddenly remembers his identity. (Chapter 31)
3. In the final scene, the boys are helping to restore an old house as a part of their community service. Much to Gecko’s surprise, Roxanne volunteers there. (Chapter 34)
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