2016 Summer Reading Questions – 6th Grade
Each of the following questions should be answered using supporting details from the book. When answering
the required questions, you must record the page numbers where you found the answers to the questions. This
information will be needed when you discuss the book in class.
 The answers to the questions may be written on lined paper or typed.
 You must use complete sentences.
 All answers must be supported by details from the book, even those requiring your opinion.
Fiction: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
1. In what ways do the tactics of the Logan family resemble those of the Civil Rights movement in the
1960s?
2. How does Mildred Taylor make the conclusion of the novel more than a "black and white" issue?
3. Explain the extent of and motivation behind Harlan Granger's harassment of the Logan family.
4. How does Cassie grow over the course of the novel?
5. What is the role of education in the Logan family? Is it valued?
6. Compare the importance of education with either the importance of religion or material wealth.
7. Most of the violence in the novel involves men. In what ways are Mama and Big Ma also heroes?
8. What does Mr. Jamison do to help the Logan's and the black community? Is he a realistic character?
Why or why not?
9. What role does family tradition play in the novel?
10. Does the novel stereotype either black or white behavior?
11. Examine the character of T. J. In what ways does he represent problems in contemporary
communities? Think of peer pressure, poverty, weapons, and drinking. Was his decline inevitable?
Besides his own, whose fault were his problems?
Non-Fiction: Kids at Work, by Russell Freedman
1. When Manuel was five years old, he was working at the shrimp and oyster cannery 10 – 12 hours a day.
What were you doing when you were five? Compare and contrast your childhood with Manuel’s.
2. How did Lewis Hine get involved with documenting school activities in 1904?
3. Describe the camera that Lewis Hine originally used.
4. What does the NCLC stand for?
5. “A boy working in a cotton mill was only half as likely to reach twenty years of age as a boy outside the
mill. A girl had even less chance.” Why was this true? What happened to these children to shorten
their lives?
6. Frequently work and school overlapped for a few months. What did the children do? Did they go to
school or work?
7. What is a breaker boy? What were the difficulties of being a breaker boy?
8. What job did boys and girls have at a newspaper? What did they do?
9. How did Hines’ photographs change the way people thought about child labor in this country?
10. Explain how a once successful Hine died in poverty? What happened?
Fiction: Esperanza Rising, Pam Munoz Ryan
Choose 10 out of the 15 questions
1. Why does the author open with a scene of Esperanza and her father lying down to hear the heartbeat of
the earth? How does this shared experience seem to affect Esperanza's relationship with her father?
2. Explain Mama's reasons for leaving Mexico. Would you have been willing to make the same decision if
you were in her situation? Why or why not?
3. Esperanza and Miguel take a train ride together as young children. Compare this train ride to the one
they take when going to live in America.
4. What does Esperanza mean when she says to Miguel that there is a "deep river" that runs between them?
Does this change in California? If so, describe how their relationship changes and give reasons for why
this might happen.
5. Describe the cabin where Esperanza must live in America. How does this home compare to her home in
Mexico? When Esperanza points out these differences, why does Mama become angry with her? Is
Mama right to be angry with her? Why or why not?
6. Why does Esperanza dislike Marta when they first meet? What makes Esperanza change her mind about
Marta?
7. After the dust storm, Mama is the only one of the workers in the cabin to become ill. Why is this so?
How does her illness affect Esperanza? Why does Esperanza agree to cut the eyes out of the potatoes?
8. When Esperanza is told she cannot visit her mother for several weeks, she describes her life as going
through "the motions of living." Have you ever felt this way? If so, describe how. What does Esperanza
do to increase the amount of joy in her life?
9. Why does Miguel drive out of his way to shop at the Japanese store? What does Alfonso mean when he
tells Miguel that Mr. Yakota is "getting rich on other people's bad manners"?
10. Compare the strikers' camp to the camp in which Esperanza lives. How does seeing this camp and its
inhabitants affect Esperanza?
11. What do you think of "voluntary deportation"? Is this a peaceful or violent way to handle the situation
with the strikers? Did Esperanza do the right thing by helping Marta and risking the chance of being
deported herself?
12. Papa's words, "Wait a little while and the fruit will fall into your hands," are said by Miguel in a heated
argument with Esperanza. How does this idea relate to the titles of the chapters in this novel? How does
this relate to the end of the novel when Esperanza is retelling all the events from California to Abuelita.
13. When Esperanza finds out Miguel has taken her money orders, she is devastated. Describe how she must
feel when Alfonso comes to take her to the train station to pick Miguel up. Is she justified to feel this
way? What was Miguel's reason for taking the money? What do his actions mean?
14. The last section of the novel has Esperanza and Miguel listening to the heartbeat of the earth. What does
this parallel to the first chapter mean?
15. Read the last sentence of the novel, and explain how it relates to the book's themes.