The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
by Stephen King
General Note: These reading questions are meant only as a guide to the novel. These will not be collected or
graded. Your grade on the novel will be based on an objective test and a follow-up essay that will be given within
the first week of school. For your own benefit, it is highly suggested that you also keep a list of major plot
happenings, characters, settings, etc. per chapter. We look forward to seeing you in August!!!
Pregame:
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What did Trisha McFarland discover when she was 9 years old?
What seems to be the nature of the relationship between Trisha’s mom and brother? Why?
Who is Quilla Anderson?
On weekends when they weren’t with their father, where would Trisha’s mom take her and her brother?
What is Trisha’s “waterless cookware” voice? What does she mean by that?
Who is Trisha’s hero?
First Inning:
1. Where exactly has Trisha’s mom taken them on this particular outing?
2. “Guys, I have to pee,” said the Invisible Girl”  What does this narrator imply in this quote when he calls
Trisha “Invisible”?
3. Who is Pepsi Robichaud?
4. What was Trisha’s “worst idea of her life”?
Second Inning:
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What does the terrible cold voice in her head first say to Trisha and why?
What creature scares her as she crawls under the fallen tree?
Why didn’t Trisha want to cry?
What things occur to Trisha throughout the chapter that her mother taught her? (Try to name at least
three)
5. How does Trisha attempt to get herself back on the path?
Third Inning:
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What does Trisha imagine her mom and brother are doing as she walks?
What does the narrator remark that Trisha would have been “stunned” to know?
What does Trisha suddenly come across after she starts running?
What does she imagine happening to her and why does it terrify her?
Top of the Fourth:
1. When she first awakes after fainting, what does she think the sounds of the thunder are?
2. What do you think Trisha means when she thinks “she could think like a kid again once she’s out of the
woods”?
3. What, according to the narrator, never occurs to Trisha as she neatly packs away the egg shells rather
than drop them on the forest floor?
4. What important discovery does she make after packing away her food?
5. Why did an ordinary newscast lift Trisha’s spirits so much?
6. What does Trisha realize she’d once read about water?
7. How does Trisha imagine she might save herself?
8. After Trisha tumbles down the slope, what does she unfortunately crash into?
9. What does Trisha fear the most as she searches her pack for damage after the fall?
10. After switching back on the Walkman, what does the news report?
11. How does Trisha soothe her wounds on the muddy banks?
12. What is the ‘cloud’ constantly around Trisha’s head?
13. Why does Trish call the woods her mother knew “toy woods”?
14. Why does Trisha find it difficult to pray?
15. What is the “subaudible”? Why does it frustrate her?
16. What does Trisha listen to with her Walkman on her first night?
17. What was going on with the rest of Trisha’s family as she listens to Tom Gordon close the game?
18. What does Trisha believe will happen if Tom gets the save?
Bottom of the Fourth
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What seems to be her father’s big problem?
What image makes Trisha feel completely alone?
What does Trisha imagine about a hunter?
What do you think is the “thing” Trisha’s cold voice starts taunting her about?
What does Trisha imagine to try to help her fall asleep?
Of the whole family, whose sleep is the most restless?
Fifth Inning:
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What seems to help lessen the annoyance of the minges and noseeums?
When she reached the top of a slope, what feeling made her uneasy?
Why does Trisha follow the stream despite the fact that she doubts it will really take her anywhere?
What happens to Trisha’s brook? What does it turn into? Why does it upset her?
What is a hummock? (If you don’t know, look it up!)
Trisha at one point calls the swamp a “purgatorial zone”? What do you think she means by this given
what she’s been going through? (Look up “purgatory” if you don’t know what it means)
7. What or who motivates her to keep going through the swamp?
8. Explain how Trisha’s mindset changes as she makes her way through the swamp.
9. Who does Trisha start talking to as she continues? How does this seem to help her?
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What animals does she come across? How does she react to them?
Why does Trisha decide not to get any closer to Fiddlehead Island after all?
Do you think something is watching Trisha? What could it be?
How does the water from the new stream make Trisha feel? What kind of confidence does it inspire?
What made Trisha sick?
Why does Trisha decide to drink again from the stream?
Describe the strange phone call received by the Maine police. How do you think this will affect Trisha’s
fate?
17. How does Trisha eventually calm herself?
Sixth Inning:
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If Trish knew the water would make her sick, why would she continue to drink it?
Why do you think she continued to visualize Tom standing next to her?
Why do you think she tried to stop “hearing” the sounds around her?
What direction was the search team going? Were they following the right leads?
How far from the path had Trish now traveled? Where was she now?
In what way is Trish now similar to someone who is stranded in a desert?
What did the nearby deer family make Trish realize?
Why all of the sudden did Trish feel better?
How is the pile of food similar to a pile of coins?
How had she lived 9 years without “being really full?” What did she mean when she said this?
Why did she now feel at peace?
What is now considered the subaudible?
What did she mean when she said “the world had teeth and it could bite you with them at any moment?”
What did she now start to envision?
Who is the 1st figure? What did it say?
Who did the 2nd figure represent? What did it say?
Who did the 3rd figure represent? What did it say?
Was Trish asleep? What did she think was happening to her after she ate the berries and leaves?
As she continued to walk along the stream, what did she discover? Why was she now panicked?
Top of the Seventh:
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Why was she so desperately trying to find the baseball station on her radio?
Why couldn’t she find anything?
What information did she discover about her search party?
What suddenly brought her momentary happiness?
What did she dream about later that night?
What woke her up?
What did she hear as she gathered some branches?
By this point, why did she all of the sudden start to feel so “old?”
What was now different about the woods she was surrounded by?
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Why didn’t he berries and nuts taste as good this time around?
What did she use as a “tool” to gather more food?
Why did she keep repeating the same jingle over and over again?
She was disgusting with her new food source. What was it and why didn’t she want anyone to know she
had eaten it?
Why did “tootsie” always have a negative/nagging presence in her mind? Who was “tootsie?”
What suddenly made Trish stop walking and talking to Tom?
What was she now surrounded by?
Why did she have a meltdown and then all of the sudden get mad?
After she woke up, what did she realize?
Why was turning North such a bad idea?
What would she have found if she turned a different direction?
What was she now walking towards?
Seventh- Inning Stretch:
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How long had she been lost in the woods?
What kinds of things did she start to imagine?
What was one thing she promised to do when (or if) she was ever rescued? Why?
What did the radio represent to her?
She mentions “black butterflies.” What really were the “black butterflies?
During one of her many coughing fits, she started to lean on something. What it turn out to be? What
did this mean?
What does Tom mean when he says “It’s late in the inning now”
Why is she eager to find a “path?” What does she think it will do for her?
Why do you think she always starts to cry when she’s getting close to something humanlike or something
that represents safety while in the woods?
What did finding these posts make her remember?
What’s the background story of the posts?
Why did she feel her eyes were “betraying” her?
What did the posts lead her to?
Eighth Inning:
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What humanlike thing did she come across?
Why didn’t she sleep there?
As the storm began, what did she notice about her surroundings? Was there something around her?
What did “It” look like?
Was she convinced she saw “It?” Why or why not?
What did she realize/see when she got out of the truck?
Top of the Ninth:
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“It” was following her at this point in her search for survival. Why won’t “It” leave her alone?
What happened when she fell? What does this mean?
What did she see right before her “illness” made her pass out? What was her “illness?”
What did “It” say?
Bottom of the Ninth:
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Why was she crying now?
Why did her pack seem so heavy, yet it was practically empty?
What were some strange things she noticed while she was sleeping?
Why was she so shocked to still be alive?
Why was she contemplating getting rid of her Walkman?
After the recent coughing fit, what did she realize?
What did she hear as she was walking along the path during her “last morning?”
What did she think she was hearing?
What did she hear shortly after that that frightened her?
Bottom of the Ninth – Save Situation:
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What did “It” turn out to be?
What did “It” look like?
What did she realize she must do to “It” as it stood in front of her?
Describe her next few moves.
Why was stillness her “last chance?”
What was she comparing this encounter to?
What was happening to “Its’” face?
Right as she was about to “pitch” to the creature, what happened?
Who saved her? Explain what happened.
What had “It” been all along?
Describe Travis Herrick?
Once she fell into his arms, why couldn’t she tell if she was talking or not?
What was she trying to tell him?
Postgame:
1. At this point, while in the hospital, was dreaming she was in the woods again. Explain the conversation
she had with Tom.
2. After a couple few “visions” when Tom reappears, what does he ask her? What is her response?
3. Who was all around her while she was lying in the hospital bed?
4. Why did her chest “feel so heavy? What was really wrong with her?
5. What was Trish trying to motion (because she couldn’t talk) to her dad?
6. After attempting a few times, was she trying to say to him?
7. What were her last “moves?” Did her father understand them?
8. What do they mean?
9. What was the last line of the book? How does it tie in with the rest of the story?