Lyddie

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. Where does Lyddie’s mother take Rachel and Agnes when she flees their home?

2. Where are Charlie and Lyddie sent when their mother decides to lease out their farm?

3. What happens when Lyddie tries to visit Charlie on her way back to visit the farm?

Short Answer

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

1. How does Lyddie react when the bear enters their cabin, and why does the bear eventually flee?

2. Charlie wants to send the proceeds of the calf’s sale to their mother; why does Lyddie refuse to do so?

3. Who does Lyddie see emerging from a carriage when she first arrives at Cutler’s Tavern, and why does this person make an impression on her?

Chapters 6-10

Reading Check

1. What does Lyddie give to Ezekial, and how did she get it?

2. Lyddie signs a contract with Concord Corporation that extends for how long?

3. What book Betsy does begin reading to Lyddie, and who is the book’s author?

Short Answer

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

1. Why is Lyddie ashamed of her first impressions of and thoughts about Ezekial?

2. What concerns do Lyddie’s roommates raise about Lyddie’s budding friendship with Diana Goss?

3. What makes Lyddie self-conscious about her appearance and manner of speaking compared to her peers when she first begins working at the Concord Corporation?

Paired Resource

“Lowell National Historical Park: The Massachusetts Mill Workers”

• This six-minute public television featurette on the history of the Lowell mills and their role in the Industrial Revolution and the textile industry features visuals of the interiors of a factory turned museum, its weaving machines in action, and the exhibits inside the preserved boardinghouses once inhabited by workers like Lyddie. It is presented against a backdrop of rich historical narration by a National Park Ranger at the Boott Cotton Mills in Lowell.
• Does the park ranger’s description of life for the mill girls match what you learned from reading Lyddie? For example, he describes mill jobs as an opportunity for farm girls and compares life in the boardinghouses to living in a college dormitory. What do you hear and see in the video that is similar to or different from Lyddie’s experience, and in what ways?

“Lowell Cotton Mill Power Loom”

• This video, filmed in the still-active weaving room of the Boott Cotton Mills Museum, features a demonstration by a museum professional showing guests how machines similar to those on which Lyddie worked operate, including a close-up look at the shuttle and the individual mechanisms of the loom.
• The YouTuber who posted it switches from regular to slow-motion video so that the intricacies of the separate processes can be appreciated.
• What impressions did you receive from the visuals in these videos? Did the mill and the boardinghouses look the way you expected them to? Do you think you would have trouble learning to operate a weaving machine? What dangers come to mind when you look at the machinery?

Chapters 11-14

Reading Check

1. Where do a large percentage of the young women who work for Concord Corporation go during the summer, and why?

2. What sad news does Lyddie learn when her mother writes her to ask for money?

3. What lyrics from the labor activism song that Betsy sings does Lyddie latch onto and begin repeating over and over in her mind?

Short Answer

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

1. Why does Lyddie suddenly find herself excited and happy during her time at work, despite the lengthy and demanding 13-hour workdays?

2. How is Lyddie’s work affected when many of her peers go home for summer holiday?

3. Describe the accident that results in Lyddie’s injury and what Lyddie thinks might have happened.

Paired Resource

“Lowell’s Southern Connection”

• This brief article from the Lowell National Historical Park addresses an issue that is not explicitly addressed in Lyddie: during the years in which the novel is set (1843-1846), the raw cotton being cleaned, carded, spun, and then woven into textiles in the Lowell mills was sourced from the southern United States. This crop was being planted, tended, and harvested by enslaved workers. Thus, while slavery became illegal in Massachusetts beginning in 1783, the Concord Corporation and other textile mills like it could not be run without cotton from the South, and the textile industry therefore reinforced and indirectly profited from slavery.
• How does this “interwoven” connection between Lowell’s textile mills and cotton plantations in the South deepen the complexities of the issue of slavery as presented in the novel? What obvious differences and possible parallels could be observed between the lives of child laborers and enslaved people during this period? What layers of meaning do the origins of the cotton threads she weaves at her looms add to Lyddie’s determination not to be a slave?

Chapters 15-19

Reading Check

1. Where does her uncle Judah tell Lyddie he has sent her mother?

2. How does Lyddie react when Mr. Marsden tries to assault her in the weaving room?

3. What does Lyddie learn about the fate of her family’s farm from the letter from Luke Stevens?

Short Answer

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

1. What decision does her uncle Judah inform Lyddie of that makes her incredibly angry? Why is she so surprised and frustrated by the news?

2. After Judah drops Rachel off with her, what dilemma does Lyddie face based on the rules of the Concord Corporation boardinghouses?

3. Why is Diana eager to resign from the Concord Corporation?

Paired Resource

“The Voice of Industry: Complete Issues”

• Published in Lowell, these papers, one of which Betsy obtains a copy of, were the voice of the labor movement in that city. Explore together or assign students or groups an issue or article to read. Suggestion: Choose issues from 1845-1846, as these are the years when Lyddie is in Lowell. Note that some scanned pages are easier to read than others.
• What does this issue or article reveal about the feelings and aspirations of the industrial workers of Lowell? What concerns are addressed? What does the date of the issue tell you about what was happening in Lowell at the time and the state of the movement?

Chaptes 20-23

Reading Check

1.  How does Lyddie respond when she sees Mr. Marsden assaulting Brigid in the weaving room?

2. What phrase, unfamiliar to her, does Mr. Marsden use as his accusation against Lyddie?

3. What does Lyddie give to Brigid as a parting gift?

Short Answer

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

1. How does Lyddie discover the meaning of what Mr. Marsden accused her of? What is her immediate reaction?

2. How does Lyddie ensure that Brigid will not lose her job and will not be bothered by Mr. Marsden anymore?

3. How does Lyddie come away from her meeting with Luke during her last visit to her home before leaving Vermont?

Paired Resource

“About Education; Oberlin: Pointed Way 150 Years Ago”

• An article about the history of Oberlin College and its decision to admit female students in 1841
• What does this contemporary article, reflecting on Oberlin from a modern perspective, tell you about why Betsy wanted to attend? Aside from admitting women, what else was unique and groundbreaking about what Oberlin was doing at the time? What do you think Lyddie can and should expect when she arrives to begin her education?

Recommended Next Reads

City of Orphans by Avi

• This award-winning middle-grades book is the story of Maks, a 13-year-old newsboy living in New York City in 1893. When he becomes the target of a notorious street gang, he relies on his wits and the help of his new friend Willa to ensure their survival. He must also find a way to exonerate his sister, who is accused of stealing a watch from the luxurious new Waldorf Hotel.
• Shared topics include young teens living and working independently in an urban, industrial environment; poverty; child labor; responsibility for siblings and peers; and false accusations and attacks on one’s character.
• Shared themes include Children’s Role in the Family and The Value of Education in Various Forms.
• City of Orphans on SuperSummary

Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix

• This historical novel centers around the 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City, which claimed the lives of 146 factory workers. The story centers around three young women from vastly differing backgrounds who become activists in their local labor reform movement: Jane is the daughter of a wealthy businessman, Yetta is an immigrant from Russia who is a fierce labor activist, and Bella has only just arrived in America from Italy and does not yet speak English. The novel culminates with the horrific fire, and the author leaves the reader guessing as to who might survive and who might succumb.
• Shared topics include young teens living and working independently in an urban, industrial environment; the immigrant experience in America; poverty; child labor; the physical dangers associated with factory work; unfair and exploitative expectations on the part of employers; power imbalances in the workplace; and the coming-of-age experience for young women during the industrial period.
• Shared themes include Children’s Role in the Family and The Value of Education in Various Forms.
• Uprising on SuperSummary