| Guide to One Fat Summer: chapters 9–14 | |||||||||||
| Chapter 9 | |||||||||||
| 1. Why doesn’t Dr. Kahn make Bobby pay for the gutter and flowers that were ruined? | |||||||||||
| 2. What does Bobby do to convince others that he likes baseball? | |||||||||||
| 3. What does Bobby mean when he says that grass is the enemy or that he is prospecting for gold? | |||||||||||
| 4. Do you ever make up games to make ordinary activities more interesting? Explain. | |||||||||||
| Vocabulary: nauseous (87), continuous (88), demolition (97), sneering (to sneer) (79) | |||||||||||
| Chapter 10 | |||||||||||
| 1. What could cause an ice cream headache? | |||||||||||
| 2. Why does the student say that one must use the plural when talking about Bobby? | |||||||||||
| 3. Why do people make fun of others? | |||||||||||
| 4. Was it proper for Bobby’s teacher to laugh at the joke made about Bobby’s weight? | |||||||||||
| 5. Would the joke have been worse or lesser if the teacher had made it? Why or why not? | |||||||||||
| Vocabulary: auction (106), bachelor (106), twitched (to twitch) (108), cooperation (109) | |||||||||||
| Chapter 11 | |||||||||||
| 1. What kind of remarks will Bobby’s father not let slip by? | |||||||||||
| 2. Do you sometimes let people say nasty and untrue things about yourself without challenging them? About others? Why or why not? | |||||||||||
| 3. Why does Bobby try to pay attention to the ride while he is blindfolded? | |||||||||||
| 4. What could Bobby have done so the kidnapping did not happen? | |||||||||||
| 5. Why do you think Willie’s friends go along with his plans? | |||||||||||
| 6. What do you think Willie’s friends think of him? Why do you say so? | |||||||||||
| Vocabulary: retreating (to retreat) (117), cackling (to cackle) ( 122) | |||||||||||
| Chapter 12 | |||||||||||
| 1. Why does Jim help Bobby off the island? | |||||||||||
| 2. Did you think that Bobby might really die? | |||||||||||
| 3. What in the writing help you to imagine how scared Bobby was on the island? | |||||||||||
| 4. Have you ever experienced anything as scary as what Bobby encountered? | |||||||||||
| Vocabulary: cramp (134), hammock (129), bloated (129), blurred (133) | |||||||||||
| Chapter 13 | |||||||||||
| 1. Bobby thinks that Dr. Kahn underpaid him. Check Dr. Kahn’s math. Who is right? | |||||||||||
| 2. How much should Dr. Kahn have paid Bobby? | |||||||||||
| 3. Why did Joanie leave Rumson Lake? | |||||||||||
| 4. What is the difference between Bobby’s earlier nervousness and his current concern about Willie? | |||||||||||
| Vocabulary: ascending (138), concrete (138) | |||||||||||
| Chapter 14: | |||||||||||
| 1. Bobby’s dad may have to take a 20% reduction in pay. If he were earning $1500 per month before the pay cut, how much would he get per month after the cut? | |||||||||||
| 2. How much would he get per year after the cut? | |||||||||||
| 3. Why did Joanie have an operation? | |||||||||||
| 4. Why didn’t Mr. Marks want Mrs. Marks to take a paying job? | |||||||||||
| 5. What was Bobby’s reaction to Joanie after her return? | |||||||||||
| 6. Why did he react this way? | |||||||||||
| Vocabulary: soggy (150), charity (153), jealous (153), bigot (155), prejudiced (155) | |||||||||||