Big Mouth & Ugly Girl

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

Chapters 1-5

Reading Check

1. Why is Matt pulled from class and questioned by the police?

2. Why was Ursula self-conscious in middle school?

3. Why does Ursula identify with Ms. Schultz?

4. Why is Ursula certain Matt is innocent?

Short Answer

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

1. What changes has Ursula made to her personality due to her insecurities?

2. How does Matt’s theater experience influence the way he interacts with the world?

Paired Resources

The Importance of Speaking Up

• This 3-minute video explains why it is so important to speak up against school violence even if it isn’t perceived as a real threat. (Content Warning: references to school shootings and threats)
• Why might students feel pressure to keep quiet instead of reporting threats of school violence? Why is it so important for students to report school threats? Why might it be important to report a threat even if it might be a joke?

How Students Can Help Prevent Violence

• This article (updated October 2022) details some of the warning signs of school violence that students and staff can watch for.
• What are some of the warning signs of school violence? What could you do if you were concerned about someone being violent in school?

Chapters 6-9

Reading Check

1. Why does Ursula quit the basketball team?

2. How does Ursula help Matt?

3. What do Matt’s friends do after he gets in trouble with the police?

4. What does Matt’s father do after Matt is suspended?

Short Answer

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

1. What parallels can be seen between Matt’s life and Ursula’s life?

2. Why do Ursula and Matt each make use of a persona?

Paired Resource

“7 Things Teens Wish They Could Say to Their Parents”

• This 6-minute video describes some of the issues teens wish parents would talk to them about.
• Do you agree with the teens interviewed? Why do you think parents and teens don’t always agree? Do you think an important part of teen growth is realizing that adults make mistakes too? How is the video related to the theme of The Fallibility of Adults?

Chapters 10-15

Reading Check

1. Why does Ursula avoid Matt?

2. What does Matt tell Mr. Bernhardt he plans to do?

3. Why does Mr. Steiner reject Matt’s submission of “Just for the Record”?

4. What does Matt confess in his email to Ursula?

Short Answer

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

1. Why do you think Mr. Parish is surprised when Ursula tells him she isn’t friends with Matt?

2. What does Matt mean when he says he feels like he has been wounded somewhere he can’t see but others can?

Chapters 16-24

Reading Check

1. Why did Ursula quit the swim team?

2. Who reported Matt’s joke to the principal?

3. What rumor is circulating in school about Matt and Ursula?

4. Where does Ursula discover Matt, and what does she convince him to do?

Short Answer

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

1. When Ursula encounters Matt at the ravine, what does she mean when she says Ugly Girl is gone and it’s just her, Ursula?

2. How does Ursula’s image of femininity change in comparison to her mother’s and sister’s ideas?

Paired Resource

“Teen Depression”

• This article from the Mayo Clinic describes some of the warning signs teens exhibit when they are depressed.
• What signs of depression does Matt exhibit? What do you think a caring adult should do to help Matt with his depression? How is Matt’s depression connected to the novel’s theme of The Damaging Effects of Rumors and Gossip?

Chapters 25-33

Reading Check

1. Why does Matt say Ursula is one in a million?

2. What does Ursula like about Matt?

3. How does Ms. Schultz feel about Ursula being absent from the basketball team?

4. What is Stacey Flynn’s opinion about Ursula’s relationship with Matt?

Short Answer

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

1. Despite the differences Ursula feels between herself and her mother, how is she influenced by her mother?

2. How does the way Matt responds to Ursula’s concerns about the lawsuit indicate a difference in perspective based on their backgrounds?

Chapters 34-38

Reading Check

1. Why is Matt angry with Ursula?

2. What does Matt suspect about his father?

3. Why is Ursula losing weight?

4. How is the relationship between Matt and Ursula repaired?

Short Answer

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

1. Matt wants his father to back out of the lawsuit. Why is it surprising that Matt’s father tells him his “idiotic, childish sense of humor” was the cause of the lawsuit?

2. In the novel, Matt’s parents take him to a psychologist. Matt believes they did this for the sake of the lawsuit. Do you think Matt should see a psychologist? Why or why not?

Paired Resource

The Social Skill of Gossiping

• This article describes both positive and negative types of gossip and provides guidelines for engaging in the good kind.
• What three types of gossip were monitored in the Social Psychological and Personality Science study? What is considered a “good” type of gossip? Are there examples of the wrong type of gossip in the novel? What are they? How is this article related to the novel’s theme of The Damaging Effects of Rumors and Gossip?

Chapters 39-43

Reading Check

1. What happens to Pumpkin?

2. How do Ursula and Matt’s mother bond?

3. What happens when Ursula confronts Trevor?

4. What happens to Pumpkin after the interaction with Trevor?

Short Answer

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

1. What is significant about the way Ursula interacts with Trevor?

2. What threats have been made against Matt and his family up to this point?

Paired Resource

“Teen Identity: Figuring Out Who You Are”

• This fact sheet from the University of Minnesota describes the confusion of identity development during the teen years and provides some hints for adults to encourage identity growth.
• Why is identity development often more important to teens than to adults? In what ways do Matt and Ursula display their changing identities? Do you agree with the suggestions for parents on how to guide identity? How is this article related to the novel’s theme of The Ubiquity of Social Performance?

Chapters 44-49

Reading Check

1. What does Courtney offer Ursula, and why does Ursula refuse?

2. Who calls a bomb threat into the school?

3. What behavioral changes has Ursula’s father made?

4. What news does Matt tell Ursula in the Rocky River Nature Preserve?

Short Answer

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

1. What does Ursula realize about her Ugly Girl persona, and what does she decide to do about it?

2. What does the Rocky River Nature Preserve mean to Ursula and Matt?

Recommended Next Reads

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

• This work of fiction features a girl who was present during a school shooting and whose mother is the judge sitting on the case.
• Shared topics include bullying, school violence, and personal growth.
• Shared themes include The Fallibility of Adults and The Damaging Effects of Rumors and Gossip.
• Nineteen Minutes on SuperSummary

Hate List by Jennifer Brown

• This novel is about the girlfriend of a school shooter and the events that occur in the aftermath of his mass murder-suicide.
• Shared topics include bullying, school violence, guilt, and acceptance.
• Hate List on SuperSummary