57 pages • 1 hour read
Elizabeth George SpeareThe Witch Of Blackbird Pond
Elizabeth George SpeareFiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1958A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
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 1-6
Reading Check
1. What is the name of the ship that takes Kit to Connecticut?
2. How many trunks does Kit bring with her?
3. Which member of the Wood family is the “pivot about whom the whole household moved”? (Chapter 6)
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why isn’t John Holbrook going to Harvard?
2. Why does Matthew tell the women not to accept Kit’s gifts of clothing?
3. Who stays in the Sabbath houses?
Paired Resource
- This timeline provides a short history of Barbados and names topics for further exploration.
- Compare Kit’s description of Barbados with her description of Wethersfield. How does the author use imagery to describe Barbados?
- This article from The Atlantic explains Barbados’s past as a British colony, discusses its history of enslavement and rebellion, and examines its formal severing of colonial ties to Britain in 2021.
- The information in this article connects to the theme Caught Between Two Worlds.
- Whose perspective is missing from Kit’s description of Barbados?
CHAPTERS 7-12
Reading Check
1. What honor has W
2. illiam recently obtained?
3. Who lives with Hannah Tupper?
4. What does Kit want to get from her suitcases?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How does Kit feel about teaching the children?
2. Why don’t people in the town want to have anything to do with Hannah Tupper?
3. According to Nat, how should the King keep the colonies loyal to him?
Paired Resource
“People and Ideas: Early American Groups”
- This summary from PBS’s American Experience describes aspects of life for the Puritans and compares them to two other early American groups, the Pilgrims and the Indigenous Pueblo groups.
- What aspects of Puritan daily life does the author portray accurately? What inaccuracies do you notice based on the article and other resources?
CHAPTERS 13-17
Reading Check
1. What cargo does the Dolphin carry for William?
2. What disappears at the meeting with Governor Andros?
3. What word does Prudence write in her book?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What is the misunderstanding between John and Matthew?
2. Why is Nat put in the stocks?
3. Why do the townspeople burn down Hannah’s house?
Paired Resource
- This article tells the story of Charter Oak. The story is alluded to in Chapter 15 in the meeting with Governor Andros, though the hiding place of the charter is not revealed in the novel.
- What is so important about Connecticut’s charter? Do you think William is telling the truth about not knowing where the charter went in the meeting with Governor Andros? What makes you think so?
CHAPTERS 18-21
Reading Check
1. What does Rachel give to Kit before Kit goes to jail?
2. What does Mercy say she loves more than anything in the world?
3. What does Kit talk about with Mercy during the long, cold winter soon after a dream about the Dolphin?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why does the constable’s wife tell Kit that if “[i]f they took you for a witch right now, I’d scarce blame them”? (Chapter 19)
2. How does Prudence prove that she is literate? How do her parents react?
3. Why doesn’t Mercy think that she needs a dowry?
Paired Resource
- This article describes the history of the real witch trials in Connecticut. (Teacher-facing; not student-appropriate for younger middle grade; may be suitable for advanced readers)
- This connects to the theme The Dangers of Intolerance.
- What kinds of people were targeted in the real Connecticut witch hunts? What role did fear play in the witch hunts? How do the results of the witch hunt reveal The Dangers of Intolerance?
Recommended Next Reads
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
- Set during World War II, this book is about a young girl who helps her Jewish friend escape Nazi persecution.
- Shared themes include The Dangers of Intolerance.
- Shared topics include a strong female protagonist and historical fiction.
- Number the Stars on SuperSummary
Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan
- This book focuses on a young girl who moves from Mexico to California and struggles to adapt to her new life.
- Shared themes include Caught Between Two Worlds.
- Shared topics include a strong female protagonist moving to a new place.
- Esperanza Rising on SuperSummary
Reading Questions Answer Key
CHAPTERS 1-6
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. Though he devoted time and attention to his preparatory studies, John Holbrook isn’t going to Harvard because he was not able to save up the tuition; he was expected to work for his father, a tanner, instead of a wage-earning job. (Chapter 2)
2. Matthew tells the women not to accept Kit’s dresses because the fancy details and colorful fabric will make his wife and daughters vain, which Puritans consider a sin. He does permit Mercy to keep a shawl from Kit. (Chapter 4)
3. People who live too far away to go home between services stay in the Sabbath houses. (Chapter 5)
CHAPTERS 7-12
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. Kit is happy to have a meaningful activity to fill her time and earn a wage to contribute to the family. She also feels more comfortable teaching the children than she does conversing with adults. (Chapter 9)
2. People in town don’t want anything to do with Widow Tupper because she is a Quaker; her religious beliefs are different from their Puritan beliefs. (Chapter 10)
3. Nat believes that if the King respects the rights of the colonists, they will stay loyal to him. (Chapter 12)
CHAPTERS 13-17
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. John intends to ask for Matthew’s blessing to marry Mercy, but Matthew thinks that John is asking for Judith’s hand instead. (Chapter 13)
2. Nat is put in the stocks because of his prank on William in which he helped to place lighted pumpkins in William’s empty windows. (Chapter 16)
3. The townspeople burn down Hannah’s house because they think she is using witchcraft to cause a fever and illness that is spreading rampantly throughout the town. (Chapter 17)
CHAPTERS 18-21
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. Kit is dirty from spending the night in jail. (Chapter 19)
2. Prudence proves that she is literate by writing her name and reading aloud from the Bible in front of the court. Her mother disparages this skill in the moment, but her father is proud of her intelligence and skill and in fact drops the charges against Kit as a result. (Chapter 19)
3. Mercy thinks that she does not need a dowry because she and John will be living with her parents. (Chapter 21)
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