The Tiger Rising

1. What does Rob discover behind the old gas station? (short answer)

2. How does Rob keep from thinking about sad things?

A) He counts to fifty.

B) He shuts his thoughts in an imaginary suitcase.

C) He talks to his friends Norton and Billy.

D) He paints pictures.

3. Rob says he is the “best not-crier in the world” (6). Why doesn’t Rob cry?

A) Rob is afraid that he will look weak.

B) Rob worries his friends will think he is sick.

C) Rob keeps his emotions tightly controlled since his mother’s death.

D) Rob does not cry because he is happy.

4. How does Rob deal with the Threemonger brothers bullying him?

A) He sits and takes it.

B) Rob fights back.

C) He tells his father to call the school.

D) Rob gets Sistine to fight them.

5. What is wrong with Rob’s legs?

A) He broke his right ankle.

B) His legs are covered in cuts from walking in the woods.

C) He has a rash.

D) One leg is shorter than the other, making Rob limp.

6. What is Rob’s talent?

A) running track

B) singing

C) painting

D) whittling

7. What is Rob like in school?

A) He does not talk to people and keeps to himself.

B) He enjoys helping his teachers.

C) He is popular and has a lot of friends.

D) He works hard in his classes.

8. Why does Mr. Phelmer send Rob home from school?

A) Mr. Phelmer wants Rob to get counseling.

B) Rob gets into a fight.

C) Mr. Phelmer thinks Rob is contagious.

D) Rob is rude to his homeroom teacher, Mrs. Soames.

9. How does Sistine feel about school?

A) She thinks this school is better than her old school in Philadelphia.

B) She hates school and thinks everyone there is ignorant.

C) She is excited to meet new people.

D) She wishes people in Florida were more friendly.

10. What was Sistine named after?

A) her Aunt Sissy

B) Sistine, Florida

C) the Myth of Sisyphus

D) The Sistine Chapel

11. What is Rob’s suitcase a metaphor for?

A) his carvings

B) his feelings

C) his dreams

D) his mother’s music

12. Why does Sistine touch the rash on Rob’s leg?

A) She wants to show Rob his rash does not frighten her.

B) She believes his rash is not contagious.

C) She thinks her father will come and take her to the doctor.

D) She hopes to catch his rash and stay home from school.

13. Where do Rob and his father live? (short answer)

14. Why is Rob glad when the Threemongers bully him on the bus ride home?

A) He does not want to talk about important things to Sistine.

B) He wants to show Sistine that he can handle their bullying.

C) He can now prove to the bus driver that he is being bullied.

D) He thinks it is the best way to become friends with the Threemongers.

15. Why does Rob’s father agree to let him stay home from school for a few days?

A) He needs Rob to help him do work around the motel.

B) He wants to make sure Rob’s rash is not contagious.

C) He knows Rob is being bullied and wants to give him some time off.

D) He hopes Rob will focus on his schoolwork more at home.

16. What do both Sistine and Rob’s father advise Rob to do about bullies?

A) run away from them

B) confront them

C) ignore them

D) ask adults at school for help with them

17. What can you infer about Rob’s and his father’s way of life?

A) They frequently move from place to place.

B) They are happy at the Kentucky Star.

C) They communicate well with each other.

D) They do not have a lot of money.

18. Who is Beauchamp? (short answer)

19. What job does Rob’s father perform at the Kentucky Star?

A) manager

B) gardener

C) maintenance man

D) cook

20. What else does Rob keep in his suitcase?

A) not-wishes

B) his wood carvings

C) not-friends

D) his old clothes

21. Why does Rob like the rain?

A) The rain mirrors Rob’s feelings of sadness.

B) The sun reminds him of his mother’s funeral.

C) The rain helps keep the heat down.

D) The sun makes him think about the tiger.

22. What form of figurative language does Rob use when he says that his mother’s singing voice “was like a small bird flying over the solid world”? (34)

A) onomatopoeia

B) metaphor

C) simile

D) personification

23. Who is Willie May?

A) Rob’s cousin

B) a secretary at the Kentucky Star

C) the housekeeper at the Kentucky Star

D) Beauchamp’s mother

24. What does Willie May tell Rob he must do to cure his rash?

A) put more ointment on his legs

B) let his sadness rise up

C) see a different doctor in Lister

D) stay home from school for at least two weeks

25. What is the Kentucky Star motel named after?

A) Beauchamp’s hometown in Kentucky

B) a horse Beauchamp once owned

C) a constellation of stars shaped like Kentucky

D) Beauchamp’s mother

26. How does Rob know Sistine was the right person to tell about the tiger?

A) She asks a lot of questions about the tiger.

B) She cannot wait to tell other people.

C) She promises to be quiet.

D) She does not doubt him.

27. What famous painter and sculptor does Sistine compare Rob to? (short answer)

28. What is something Rob wants but is afraid to wish for?

A) a dog to keep him company

B) enough money to move back to Jacksonville

C) a friend

D) his legs to finally heal

29. Why does Sistine get into fights at school?

A) to let out some of the anger she feels

B) to protect Rob

C) to show she will not be bullied

D) to prove that kids in the South are weak

30. When Rob and Sistine go to see the tiger for the first time, why does Sistine get angry at Rob when he tells her to be quiet?

A) She thinks Rob has no right to tell her what to do.

B) She believes no one will hear them, and she does not want to be quiet.

C) She is mad that Rob discovered the tiger first.

D) She shared information about her family, but Rob did not share anything about himself.

31. What does Sistine want to do about the tiger?

A) get her father to buy it from Beauchamp

B) set it free

C) move it to a larger cage

D) call the Humane Society to rescue it

32. What unexpected feeling does Rob experience when he and Sistine run back to the motel after seeing the tiger? 

33. Which of the following is not a reason that Rob and Sistine become friends?

A) They share similar experiences: Both are new in town, and both have lost a parent.

B) They both appreciate beautiful things.

C) They join forces against the bullies.

D) They can talk to each other.

34. What kind of images does Rob associate with memories of his mother?

A) light

B) darkness

C) water

D) cities

35. How did Rob’s mother die? (short answer)

36. How did Sistine’s parents meet?

A) They met at a restaurant in Sistine, Florida.

B) They bumped into each other while looking at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

C) They went to high school together.

D) They both took the same painting class.

37. What is Rob’s mother’s name?

A) Carolyn

B) Karen

C) Karrie Ann

D) Caroline

38. Why does Sistine call her mother a liar?

A) She is angry that her mother makes her wear fancy clothes.

B) She does not want to believe bad things about her father.

C) She wants her mother to go away.

D) She wishes her mother were more like her father.

39. Who was Cricket? (short answer)

40. Why did Willie May let Cricket go?

A) She disliked Cricket.

B) She left the cage door open by mistake.

C) She did not like to see Cricket trapped in a cage.

D) She wanted Cricket to return to the store.

41. What does Beauchamp want Rob to do for him?

A) feed the tiger

B) sweep the sidewalks in front of the Kentucky Star

C) wash his jeep

D) work with Willie May

42. Which three adjectives best describe Beauchamp?

A) shy, funny, thoughtful

B) kind, wise, calm

C) reckless, boastful, immature

D) silent, cold, mean

43. How does Beauchamp feel about the tiger?

A) He is ashamed that he accepted the tiger as payment.

B) He is afraid of it.

C) He thinks it is funny to own a tiger.

D) He loves it.

44. Why does Sistine want to let the tiger go?

A) She wants the tiger to eat Beauchamp.

B) She hopes the tiger’s freedom will get the attention of animal rights groups.

C) She thinks if the tiger is free, Beauchamp will be fired.

D) She feels trapped like the tiger.

45. What does Rob do when Sistine cries?

A) He comforts her the way his mother used to.

B) He sings to her.

C) He tells her to stop crying the way his father told him to stop.

D) He walks away to give her some privacy.

46. Why is it important to Rob that Willie May and Sistine like each other?

A) So they can both convince Rob’s father to keep him out of school.

B) Rob needs them to cooperate and stop the Threemongers from bullying him.

C) They are both people he trusts and can talk to.

D) It is not important that they like each other.

47. What does Willie May say is Sistine’s problem?

A) her innocence

B) her weakness

C) her language

D) her anger

48. What is Willy May’s advice to Sistine?

A) to do what her mother tells her

B) she has to rescue herself

C) to wait for her father to arrive

D) she needs to try and fit in better at school

49. Why does Sistine call Willie May a prophetess?

A) Willie May is a very religious person.

B) Sistine hopes Willie May will help fix her family problems.

C) Willie May has supernatural powers.

D) Sistine knows that Willie May understands her.

50. What was Rob’s father like before Caroline died?

A) He used to sing and smile.

B) He was angry all the time.

C) He was not home very much.

D) He spent a lot of time watching television.

51. Why is Rob’s father angry when he finds the rotten meat?

A) He thinks the meat should have been fresh.

B) He does not want Rob to feed the tiger.

C) He thinks Beauchamp is insulting him.

D) He believes someone played a mean joke on them.

52. What does Rob give to Willie May? (short answer)

53. How does Rob know that he likes Sistine?

A) She stands up for herself.

B) Her voice changes when she sees something beautiful.

C) She will not take no for an answer.

D) She is tough.

54. What does Willy May advise Rob and Sistine to do about the tiger?

A) tell Beauchamp to give it to a zoo

B) set it free

C) call the police and report Beauchamp

D) let it be

55. Who tells Sistine the truth—that her father is not coming to get her?

A) Rob’s father

B) Willie May

C) Rob

D) Billy Threemonger

56. What happens when Rob first opens the tiger’s cage? 

A) The tiger runs into the scrub.

B) The tiger snarls and claws at Rob.

C) The tiger does not leave the cage.

D) The tiger lays down in the doorway.

57. What does Rob compare the running tiger to?

A) a wildfire

B) the sun rising and setting

C) a tornado

D) the flash of a lightning bolt

58. Why does Rob’s dad shoot the tiger?

A) to protect himself

B) to win Beauchamp’s approval

C) to earn extra money by selling the tiger skin

D) to protect Rob

59. How does Rob react when the tiger dies?

A) He turns to Willie May for comfort.

B) He is silent.

C) His suitcase opens, and he lets his emotions come out.

D) He runs into the woods to cry alone.

60. Who told Rob’s father about the tiger?

A) Willie May

B) Sistine’s mother

C) Beauchamp

D) Rob

61. After the tiger’s funeral, Sistine says she does not hate Rob. Instead, she says Rob is_______? (short answer)

62. Why does Rob feel “lighter” inside after the tiger’s funeral?

A) He is glad he did not have to keep the tiger a secret anymore.

B) He is able to grieve and express his emotions.

C) He is tired of being bullied.

D) He is happy that he is no longer responsible for feeding the tiger.

63. How does Rob feel about going back to school?

A) He does not have to go back to school because his legs are still contagious.

B) He worries about being bullied.

C) He does not mind because Sistine will be there.

D) He looks forward to seeing his teachers again.

64. What does Rob’s father agree to do for Rob?

A) take him to a different doctor

B) talk more about Caroline

C) help Rob with his homework

D) let him stay home from school a little longer

65. What does the tiger symbolize?

A) a burning fire

B) Rob’s wish for a friend

C) hunger

D) Rob’s caged-up feelings