Black Beauty

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Part 1, Chapters 1-10

Reading Check

1. Who is Black Beauty’s mother?

2. How is Black Beauty related to Rob Roy?

Short-Answer Response

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.  

1. Why does Black Beauty appreciate being exposed to steam engines as a colt?

2. How does Ginger change during her time at Birtwick Park?

Paired Resource

Thoroughbred Life Cycle Activity Packet

• This packet includes information and vocabulary about thoroughbred horses, including many of the terms used in this section of the novel.
• How does Beauty’s character mature and change as he grows from a colt to a young horse?

Part 1, Chapters 11-21

Reading Check

1. Who replaces James after he leaves Birtwick Park?

2. Who causes the fire at the inn stables?

3. Why does Black Beauty have to gallop both ways when he goes to get the doctor?

Short-Answer Response

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Joe cause harm to Black Beauty, and is this harm intentional?

2. What is the impact of Squire Gordon and his family leaving England? How do the horses react, and what does this say about their relationship to the Gordon family?

Part 2, Chapters 22-31

Reading Check

1. Who is Lady Anne’s cousin?

2. How does Reuben Smith die?

Short-Answer Response

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Black Beauty get sent away from Earlshall, and what does this choice reveal about the earl’s character?

2. What struggles does Black Beauty encounter while working as a job-horse, and how do these struggles connect to business and profitability?

Paired Resource

Temperance, Teetotalism and Addiction in the Nineteenth Century

• This webpage discusses the debate of moderation versus abstinence from alcohol during the Victorian era as well as historical understandings of how addiction functioned.
• This content connects to the theme of the Destructiveness of the Abuse of Alcohol.
• Is Reuben Smith portrayed as responsible for his addiction and behavior? Is anything about his portrayal sympathetic?

Part 3, Chapters 32-41

Reading Check

1. What are the names of Jerry’s children?

2. What are Seedy Sam’s last words?

Short-Answer Response

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Jerry feel so strongly about not working on Sundays?

2. Describe one act of kindness Jerry carries out in this section. What does this action reveal about his character?

Paired Resource

The Charge of the Light Brigade

• This poem was written in 1854 by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
• It describes a battle in which British soldiers suffered very high casualties during the Crimean War. Captain describes his experiences during this battle in Chapter 34.
• What themes appear in both Sewell’s novel and Tennyson’s poem? How is your impression of this battle different depending on whether it is described from a human or animal point of view?

Part 3, Chapters 42-45 & Part 4, Chapters 46-49

Reading Check

1. Where do Jerry and his family move when they leave London?

2. What character from his earlier life does Black Beauty encounter in his final home?

Short-Answer Response

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What does Jerry’s history of alcohol abuse reveal about his character? What has helped him to get and remain sober?

2. Why is Black Beauty so happy in his final home?

Recommended Next Reads

The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B White

• This middle-grade novel is narrated in the first-person by an anthropomorphic trumpeter swan named Louis and includes his impressions and observations about the world around him in 20th century America.
• Shared topics include an animal narrator, finding one’s way in the world, and coming full circle in one’s life
• Shared themes include the Inherent Goodness of Animals
• The Trumpet of the Swan on Supersummary

Watership Down by Richard Adams

• This award-winning British novel features anthropomorphic rabbits who face many threats and dangers imposed by the cruelty and selfishness of humans.
• Shared topics include anthropomorphic animal characters, the harm humans inflict on animals and the natural world, and critiques of industrialization and modernization
• Shared themes include the Inherent Goodness of Animals, Importance of Intervening to Prevent Cruelty, and Anti-Industrialism and Anti-Capitalism
• Watership Down on Supersummary