Chapters 1-6

Reading Check

1. A gang-banger (Chapter 2)

2. A miner’s helmet (Chapter 2)

3. Worm (Chapter 3)

4. She reads. (Chapter 3)

5. The Wind in the Willows (Chapter 6)

6. Her stepfather, the Undertaker (Chapter 6)

Short Answer

1. He lives in the basement of his grandparents’ house. (Chapter 3)

2. She loves to read and does so instead of socializing. Kids call her Bookworm, or Worm for short. (Chapter 3)

3. Max overhears the Undertaker knock out Rachel’s mom and finds him trying to get into Rachel’s room to strike her too. (Chapter 6)

Chapters 7-15

Reading Check

1. The Prairie Schooner (Chapter 9)

2. The Dippy Hippie (Chapter 9)

3. Fire ants (Chapter 10)

4. Frank and Joanie, two con artists (Chapter 11)

5. $10,000 (Chapter 15)

Short Answer

1. The Undertaker claims that Max hit Rachel’s mother and kidnapped Rachel, so Max is in trouble. (Chapter 7)

2. The bus station is guarded by police, who are searching for Max and Rachel. (Chapter 8)

3. Dip is a retired schoolteacher who wanted to tour the US with his wife, but she died, so he travels by himself.