Characters
This is the age and name of the protagonist of the story.
Who is Will, what is 15?
This poetic device compares two seemingly unlike things using like or as.
What is a simile?
This tragic event starts the story.
What is Shawn's death?
Fill in the blank: "No crying/No snitching/___ _____"
This is the author of the book.
Who is Jason Reynolds?
Will rides the elevator with ghosts from his past, including this brother.
Who is Shawn?
This quote: "I stood there, mouth clenched tight enough to grind my teeth into dust" is an example of this device.
What is hyperbole.
Shawn was picking this up at the store before he was shot.
This character says this to Will, "I know you're young, / gotta get it out, / but just remember, when / you're walking in the nighttime, / make sure the nighttime / ain't walking into you."
This is the floor that Will lives on.
What is Floor 8?
This character holds a gun to Will's head to show him the consequences of his actions.
Who is Will's dad/Pop?
This quote: "Pop/Pop/Pop" is an example of this device.
What is onomatopoeia?
This character started screaming right after Shawn's death.
Who is Letecia?
This quote represents a theme in the story: "He knew them like I knew them. / Passed to him. / Passed them to his little brother. / Passed to my older brother. / Passed to me. / The Rules have always ruled. / Past present future forever"
What is the generational trauma of violence?
What is the cycle of violence in Will's life?
These are the three rules Will lives by.
What is No crying, no snitching, and always get revenge?
This character is who will thinks killed his brother.
Who is Riggs?
"Sleep ran from me for what seemed like forever" is an example of this device.
What is personification.
These two artists were on posters in Shawn's room.
Who is Tupac and Biggie?
"CANOE = OCEAN"
"SCARE = CARES"
These quotes are an example of this literary device.
What are anagrams?
This is the form of poetry the book is written in.
What is free-verse poetry?
The elevator being called a vertical coffin is an example of this device.
What is a metaphor?
This is the rule both Shawn and Will break at the end of the book.
What is no crying?
"like a wool blanket or a blizzard"
"so thick and seemed to act like a solid"
These quotes describe this element of the text.
What is the smoke?
According to Will the L button on the elevator stands for this.
What is Loser?