The Witches of Worm
by
Zilpha Keatley Snyder
 
This book is a lot of fun, especially when done with the audio tape in class.  I give the kids questions to help them follow along as they hear it dramatized.  Thematically, the story fits in with our other tales of adolescent angst, this time about a girl who is having trouble coping with having a single parent.

(EDUCATORS PLEASE NOTE: this story is not about witchcraft or the practicing of occult arts.  It is a Newberry Award Winner about a girl whose imagination goes wild, and should not be a problem with parents.)

Characters:
Jessica, a 12 year old girl
Joy, her mother
Brandon, her friend
Mr. Weaver, school psychologist
Worm, Jessica's cat
Mrs. Fortune, the lady downstairs
Mrs. Post, a lady who watches Jessica when her mom is away.

1. Why did Joy consider herself a "lousey" mother to her daugher, Jessica?

2. Why does Jessica have to no father?  What happened to him?

3. Why is Brandon no longer Jessica's friend?

4. What was the subject of the book Jessica had gotten from the library?

5. What was peculiar about the kitten?

6. What does Mrs. Fortune explain about the cat's "blindness?"

7. How did Jessica and Mrs. Fortune manage to feed her kitten?

8. What does Mrs. Fortune mean when she says it's the cat's "last chance?"

9. Why does Jessica name her kitten Worm?

10. Who really answers for Worm when Jessica talks to it?

11. Who was Jessica's only real friend during the summer?

12. How do Mrs. Fortunes cats react to Worm?

13. An Abbysinian Cat is descended from Ancient____________.

14. What does Worm tell Jessica about Mrs. Fortune?

15. Where was Jessica left at the end of her dream?

16. What lie does Jessica tell Mrs. Post?

17. As Jessica rubbed her forehead, what was she trying to make Mrs. Post think?

18. Worm finally confesses that he is a __________ cat.

19. What is Joy planning to do over the weekend?

20. What does she ask Jessica to do to help her prepare for the trip?

21. What did Worm tell Jessica to do with her mother's dress?

22. How does Jessica deal with her mother's being mad at her?

23. What does Joy tell Allen, her boyfriend, on the phone?

24. Why does Jessica have to listen, according to Worm?

25. Does Mrs. Fortune believe in witches?

26. What does Mr. Weaver, the school psychologist, ask Jessica to do?

27. What happens to the baby in Jessica's story?

28. What does Worm tell Jessica to do with Brandon's trumpet?

29. What "secret" of  Jessica's does Mrs. Fortune know?

30. What does Mrs. Fortune want Jessica to tell Brandon?

31. Why. according to Jessica, does Mrs. Fortune know everything?

32. What were the two ways they used to punish witches in the old days?

33. What does Jessica plan to do to Mrs. Fortune?

34. What did Jessica learn about Ann's confession in the last chapter of the book on witches?

35. What does Jessica ask Mrs. Fortune to help her do?

36. According to Mrs. Fortune, what is "of greatest importance" in the exorcism ritual?

37. Who interrupts the exorcism ritual?

38. Who manages to save Worm?

39. "Jessica cried steadily, as if she were trying to make up for all the years that
she________________________."

40. Who does Jessica believe is really the witch?

41. Why could Brandon never tell Jessica that he was sorry for what he had done?

42. Why did Brandon think that Jessica could not possibly be a witch?

43. For what was Jessica really sorry?
 

 



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