Woods Runner

Chapters 1-4

Reading Check

1. In the woods (Chapter 1)

2. A newspaper (Chapter 2)

3. Land (Chapter 2)

4. A bear (Chapter 3)

Short Answer

1. Travel is slow due to the lack of modern inventions during the 18th century. (Chapter 1)

2. The American militia is fighting British soldiers. (Chapter 2)

3. He is concerned there has been an attack on his village while he was away. (Chapter 3)

4. Samuel finds that his entire village has burned to the ground and his parents are missing. Samuel buries the dead and says a prayer. (Chapter 4)

Chapters 5-8

Reading Check

1. Anywhere from 8-10 years old (Chapter 5)

2. Scouts (Chapter 6)

3. Weapons and fresh scalps (Chapter 7)

4. Kill them (Chapter 7)

5. The rebels (Chapter 8)

6. A tomahawk (Chapter 8)

Short Answer

1. Samuel has become adept at surviving on the frontier and in the woods. His knowledge helps him to track the attackers and determine how far they have traveled since leaving the village. (Chapter 5)

2. He may have been left unharmed because of Native American stories that tell of “crazy people as graced by the higher power.” (Chapter 6)

Chapters 9-12

Reading Check

1. Gangrene (Chapter 9)

2. Coop and his rebels (Chapter 9)

3. The redcoats (Chapter 10)

4. A chicken (Chapter 11)

Short Answer

1. The American soldiers were protecting their own land and rights. Because the soldiers were emotionally invested in this way, they had higher morale than the British soldiers who were on American soil. (Chapter 10)

2. Samuel’s father had a chessboard and the officer missed having someone to play with. (Chapter 11)

3. Hessians visit the Clark farm and brutally slaughter Annie’s parents. She flees to the woods, barely escaping with her life as they shoot at her. (Chapter 12)

4. After witnessing the brutal murder of her family, Annie doesn’t eat, speak, or leave Samuel’s side for the first three days they are together, causing him to worry about her. Additionally, Annie is ill-equipped to be in the forest because she doesn’t have shoes. Samuel realizes that Annie has lost her childhood innocence because of the senseless killing. (Various Chapters)

Chapters 13-16

Reading Check

1. His grandchildren (Chapter 13)

2. He says the king’s mental health condition is poor and that he is not capable of the decisions necessary for governing. (Chapter 15)

3. A carrier pigeon (Chapter 15)

4. Matthew (Chapter 16)

5. His mother (Chapter 16)

Short Answer

1. He admires her perseverance in traveling with him without shoes and in ragged clothing for days on end. He is also pleased she is unwilling to part with him. (Chapter 13)

2. Abner says growing old has caused him to want to make up for the wrongs he has committed in his life. (Chapter 14)

3. Micah says the British are keeping prisoners along the waterfront in mills and warehouses. (Chapter 15)

Chapters 17-Epilogue

Reading Check

1. Intentional neglect (Chapter 17)

2. A sugar mill (Chapter 17)

3. Rebel soldiers (Chapter 19)

4. In Philadelphia (Epilogue)

5. A school (Epilogue)

Short Answer

1. They embrace her as their own daughter. (Chapter 18)

2. He encourages them to help others in the war if they can. (Chapter 18)

3. Samuel does not like city life. He decides to fight in the woods again with Coop. After Coop’s death he leaves the war and lives in the clearing he found the day the British soldiers burned his village. (Epilogue)