64 pages • 2 hours read
Terror at Bottle Creek
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During Reading
Reading Questions & Paired Texts
Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.
CHAPTERS 1-17
Reading Check
1. Where do Cort and his father live?
2. What warning does the sheriff bring?
3. Who is Liza?
4. Where do Cort and his father plan to stay during the hurricane?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How does Cort feel about his mother?
2. How do Cort and his father react when No-Name nearly bites Cort?
3. What does Cort talk about with Catfish and what does that reveal about him?
4. What are the repercussions of Cort’s father going to see Cort’s mother as the hurricane approaches?
Paired Resource
“Why Family Separation Is Growing into a ‘Global Crisis’”
- PBS explores causes and effects of family separation around the world. (Teacher-appropriate; not student facing due to sensitivity).
- Information in the article may provide ideas and language for teacher-led discussions on Cort’s family conflict and the ways in which his separation from his mother is affecting him.
- This information connects to the themes of Loss and Separation Within the Family, Sense of Connection and Belonging, and Responsibility Differences Between Children and Adults.
CHAPTERS 18-32
Reading Check
1. Where is Francie trapped?
2. What different animals are Cort and his father most afraid of?
3. Why does Cort make a spear?
4. What does Francie name the bear in the tree next to them?
5. What injuries do the three young people sustain?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why does Cort leave Catfish?
2. What choice must Cort, make after the wreck of the houseboat?
3. How does the swamp offer both safety and danger?
4. What leads to Cort’s decision to leave?
Paired Resources
- This CBS News report includes an article and 7-minute video chronicling some dangers Hurricane Ian brought in 2022.
- This report connects to the themes of Responsibility Differences Between Children and Adults and Sense of Connection and Belonging.
- How were the dangers of Hurricane Ian similar to those Cort, Liza, and Francie face?
- The National Wildlife Federation examines some effects of hurricanes on wildlife and how to help our shorelines.
- This information connects to the themes of Responsibility Differences Between Children and Adults and Sense of Connection and Belonging.
- What insights does this article offer about long-term effects of hurricanes like the one Cort and his friends, family, and home area suffered?
CHAPTERS 33-46
Reading Check
1. At Bottle Creek, what does Cort float on?
2. Where does Cort meet his father again?
3. Who helps Cort, the girls, and Cort’s father escape Rusty?
4. Who arrives back at the Stovalls’ house as Cort and his father are cleaning up?
5. How does Cort’s father propose that Cort participate in basketball again?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How does Cort get away from the mound?
2. When he sees his father again, what is Cort’s reaction?
3. How have Cort’s and his father’s attitudes toward Cort’s mother shifted by the end of the story?
4. At the end of the novel, how are Cort, Liza, and Francie healing?
Paired Resource
- Louis Armstrong’s lyrics celebrate the wonders of nature, friends, and more. This video from ABC presents a 1967 performance.
- These lyrics connect to the theme of Sense of Connection and Belonging.
- What might the different characters identify as aspects of nature and moments that forge connection and awe in their lives?
Recommended Next Reads
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- When 10-year-old Moon’s father dies, Moon decides to travel on his own to Alaska. The authorities, however, send him to a home for boys. He and two friends escape, and Moon uses his survival skills learned from his father on their journey as they contend with the wilderness, determined police, and illness.
- Shared themes include Loss and Separation Within the Family, Sense of Connection and Belonging, and Responsibility Differences Between Children and Adults.
- Shared topics include survival skills, nature, growing up, friendship, fear, choices, danger, home, and courage.
- Alabama Moon on SuperSummary
Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere by Julie T. Lamana
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- Shared themes include Loss and Separation Within the Family, Sense of Connection and Belonging, and Responsibility Differences Between Children and Adults.
- Shared topics include growing up, danger, hurricanes, fear, choices, home, surviving, and neighbors.
- Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere on SuperSummary
Reading Questions Answer Key
CHAPTERS 1-17
Reading Check
1. On a houseboat in Alabama (Chapter 1)
2. An evacuation has been ordered due to the hurricane; if people stay, authorities will not be able to help them. (Chapter 9)
3. Cort’s neighbor and friend, for whom he is developing feelings (Chapters 5-7)
4. With Liza and her family in their house on higher ground (Chapters 6, 9)
Short Answer
1. Cort does not want to see his mother; he is bitter that she wants to separate from his father. He refuses to ask her to help him attend basketball practice so he can stay on the team. He believes since she left the family, she is not reliable. Cort is angry because his father continues to visit her. (Chapters 1-17)
2. Cort’s father reprimands him, probably out of fear in the stressful moment. Cort is embarrassed and reflects he should have known better and been more careful. Later, they discuss more calmly the dangers of the swamp, with his father reminding Cort that it can be beautiful but that beauty masks the treacherous, wild parts. (Chapters 4-5)
3. Cort talks with Catfish about his parents’ separation. Cort chooses to talk with Catfish about this subject because he knows he and his father disagree. He also does not talk about it with Liza, respecting the loss of her father. Cort is determined not to burden Liza, which becomes evident later as well as he tries to protect her without leaning on her during the hurricane. (Chapter 13)
4. Though he planned to return, Cort’s father becomes trapped away from Cort. When Liza’s mother goes to bring Cort’s father home, she too realizes she cannot return due to the rising waters. That leads to Cort, Liza, and Francie facing the hurricane on their own. The phones quickly stop working, making them even more isolated. (Chapters 14-17)
CHAPTERS 18-32
Reading Check
1. On the houseboat (Chapter 18)
2. Cort is most afraid of wild boars, and his father is most afraid of snakes. (Chapter 23)
3. To get the snakes away from them in the tree (Chapter 27)
4. Elmo (Chapter 28)
5. Cort, Liza, and Francie suffer from hypothermia; additionally, Cort is cut by the boar, Francie is bit by ants, and Liza is bit by a cottonmouth. (Chapters 18-32)
Short Answer
1. Catfish refuses to leave the houseboat. Cort knows he cannot carry Catfish and Francie. It pains him, but he knows he has to leave the dog to take care of himself. (Chapter 20)
2. Cort, Liza, and Francie are faced with a choice after the houseboat wrecks. They can stay where they are in rising flood waters or head into the swamp to try to get to the ancient mounds. Cort chooses to the swamp, hoping the higher grounds bring more safety. (Chapters 18-22)
3. Because the mounds are higher ground, Cort, Liza, and Francie can get out of the dangerous flood waters. Other wildlife, however, is also trying to escape the floods. Danger comes in the form of wild boars, a bear, snakes, and alligators. (Chapters 25-26)
4. Cort recognizes no one will find them for a long time in the trees. Liza is in a lot of danger due to the snake bite and another bite to either girl will lead to death. He realizes he must go for help. (Chapter 32)
CHAPTERS 33-46
Reading Check
1. A refrigerator (Chapters 35-36)
2. Cort’s father takes a boat to look for Cort, Liza, and Francie and finds Cort in the river. (Chapter 36)
3. Elmo the bear (Chapter 41)
4. Catfish (Chapter 44)
5. His father says that he will take time off work and take him to practice. (Chapter 46)
Short Answer
1. He jumps from one tree to another. The second tree bends past the waiting alligators and breaks. In the water, he moves away slowly, remembering not to thrash, which would get the alligators’ attention. (Chapter 33-34)
2. Cort has multiple emotions, including crying in relief at having an adult to help finally and anger at his father for leaving him at the start of the storm. (Chapter 36)
3. Cort’s father finally realizes his wife is not returning and begins to make his peace with it. He tells Cort he will not have to earn as much, he does not have to work as much, and he can help him get to basketball practice. Cort has also made more peace with his mother’s departure;, he realizes he is no longer mad at her and intends to help her recover from the hurricane. (Chapters 33-46)
4. Cort, Liza, and Francie are released from the hospital with injuries but on the mend. Cort is limping and has an injured hand. Francie seems mostly recovered. Liza has had surgery on her leg, which still has a brace and wraps. (Chapters 42-46)
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