George
Why did George drop out of school?
He lost patience with his studies and felt like the teachers did not respect him
Who is Sophie? What does she look like?
George's sister. She's tall and bony like George.
What was Mr. Cattanzara's job?
He was a change maker at the train station.
Where does George's father work?
In a fish market
What did George do at night?
He went to the park in a different neighborhood (sometimes he walked around his neighborhood)
Where does she work?
In a cafe in the Bronx.
Why did Mr. Cattanzara give George a nickel?
Because George was behaving like a child by lying and not reading the books. Mr. C wanted to show him that he knows the truth, and that if George acts like a child, he will also treat him like a child.
What do we know about Mr. Cattanzara's wife?
She is a large and fat woman who spends her days looking out the window.
What did George tell Mr. Cattanzara in their first conversation?
He said that he was reading 100 books over the summer
What does Sophie bring George home from work?
magazines and newspapers
Why did Mr. Cattanzara ask George to name one book on the list he was reading?
He wanted to show George that he knew the truth, and tried to make George confess.
How did the people in the neighborhood treat George when they heard that he was reading over the summer?
They smiled at him and seemed to respect him more when they believed he was reading so many books over the summer. One neighbor even told him he was a good boy.
After the second conversation with Mr. C, George felt really bad. What did he do?
George would not come out of his room for almost a week.
Why does Sophie take care of things in the house?
Their mother is dead.
What does Mr. C do every night?
He reads the New York Times from cover to cover.
What does George want?
He felt he would someday like to have a good job and live in a private house with a porch, on a street with trees. He wanted to have some dough in his pocket to buy things with, and a girl to go with, so as not to be so lonely, especially on Saturday nights. He wanted people to like and respect him.
What did George do at the end of the story?
He went to the library, counted 100 books, and sat down to start reading.
What does Sophie do when she hears that George is reading the books?
She gives him a buck a week allowance and she is softer to George
Why is Mr. Cattanzara called the change-maker?
It has a double meaning. It's because of his job at the train station, but also because he makes a change in George, he is able to convince him to go to the library and begin reading.
Who are the people who live in George's neighborhood? (Use inferring)
They probably come from different countries (they are immigrants). They are poor and mainly work in shops.