The Inquisitor’s Tale

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

Prologue-Chapter 8

Reading Check

1. What is the name of the brew-maker who tells the story?

2. What is Jeanne’s dog’s name?

3. Who begins to tell William’s story in Chapter 3?

4. What unusual weapon does William use to defend himself in the forest?

5. Who is the leader of the knights who capture Jeanne?

Short Answer

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

1. What does Jeanne accurately predict about Old Teresa?

2. Why does Marie object to the nun telling Jeanne’s story?

3. Why is William afraid of traveling through the forest of Malesherbes?

4. How does Jacob get separated from his parents?

5. What does the young jongleur ask for in return for his story, and what does the narrator give him instead?

Paired Resource

“The Benefits of Making Friends Who Are Different to You”

• This article from ABC Everyday explains the benefits of having a diverse group of friends and profiles some diverse friendships.
• This resource relates to the theme of The Power of Difference.
• What are some benefits of having friends who are not just like you? How are Jeanne, William, and Jacob different from one another? What evidence in the story tells you whether they would agree with the ideas in this article?

“Everything You Need to Know to Read The Canterbury Tales”

• This 5-minute video from TED-Ed offers a basic introduction to The Canterbury Tales.
• This resource relates to the theme of Storytelling as Unity.
• When was The Canterbury Tales written, and who wrote it? What is similar about the narration of The Inquisitor’s Tale and The Canterbury Tales? What is similar about the situations in which the stories are told? How do these stories bring people together to enjoy one another’s company? What are some reasons that Gidwitz might have wanted to mimic The Canterbury Tales?

Chapters 9-17

Reading Check

1. Where does the jongleur meet William, Jacob, and Jeanne?

2. What topic does the jongleur overhear Jacob explaining to the knight called Marmeluc?

3. What does the dragon eat that causes its horribly stinky farts?

4. According to Yehuda, what did Saint Denis carry to the spot where the cathedral was to be built?

5. What does the Grandmontine abbot announce has disappeared?

Short Answer

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

1. What terrible act do the knights commit that causes their families to reject them?

2. What does Lord Bertulf agree to do if Jacob successfully kills the dragon?

3. What does the chronicler do instead of going into the study with the children to see Abbot Hubert?

4. What past event inspired the abbot to start living a holy life?

5. Why is Jeanne the only one who does not bow to the good-looking young man the children meet living among the Grandmontines?

Paired Resource

“Simple Thinking in a Complex World Is a Recipe for Disaster”

• This essay by information technology professor David Green explains why thinking of the word in simple ways is attractive but can be dangerous.
• This resource relates to the theme of Reckoning with Complexity.
• What makes thinking about the world in simple terms attractive to people? What are the dangers of trying to reduce complex situations to simple terms? In The Inquisitor’s Tale, what does Jeanne say makes her like the stinky cheese? What happens when the dragon’s digestive system cannot cope with this complex food? In what way is this section of the novel trying to say the same thing as Dr. Green’s article is saying?

“You’ve Got a Friend in Me”

• This 2-minute song (Randy Newman performing his song “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”) offers an opportunity to reflect on being a good friend no matter what troubles there are. The lyrics can be found here.
• This resource relates to the theme of Reckoning with Complexity.
• In this song, how does the speaker convey that their friendship persists no matter what? How does the idea of “no matter what” relate to how people are complex human beings? What lessons do the children in The Inquisitor’s Tale learn about friendship and how complicated people can be?

Chapters 18-27

Reading Check

1. What kind of institution did Robert de Sorbonne found?

2. Who dies during the book burning?

3. Whose story does the Franciscan friar Master Bacon tell the children at the inn?

4. What job does the reader learn the narrator holds?

5. Who is the woman called Blanche that the children try to save from the quicksand?

Short Answer

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

1. How does King Louis explain his choice to stop the attack on the Jewish man in Paris?

2. Why does Jeanne hesitate to agree to Michelangelo’s plan for bringing up the book burning to Louis?

3. Why do the children return to the inn after their plan fails?

4. When the children arrive near Mont-Saint-Michel, why do they stop at an inn overnight?

5. What does Michelangelo imply about the nun’s identity?

Recommended Next Reads 

The Beatryce Prophecy by Kate DiCamillo

• This thrilling middle-grade novel tells the story of Beatryce, a Medieval child fleeing the king, who sees her storytelling ability as dangerous.
• Shared themes include The Power of Difference, Storytelling as Unity, and Reckoning with Complexity.
• Shared topics include prophecy, journeys, friendship, sacrifice, the role of religion, Medieval Europe, justice, and animal companions.

The Mad Wolf’s Daughter by Diane Magras

• In this action-packed middle-grade adventure, Drest, the youngest child of a family of warriors in Medieval Scotland, goes on a journey to rescue her family.
• Shared themes include Reckoning with Complexity.
• Shared topics include journeys, friendship, sacrifice, Medieval Europe, and justice.

Crispin and the Cross of Lead by Avi

• In this medieval children’s book, Crispin is falsely accused of theft and murder and must go on the run.
• Shared themes include Reckoning with Complexity
• Shared topics include journeys, sacrifice, Medieval Europe, and justice
• Crispin and the Cross of Lead on SuperSummary