Somewhere in the darkness guided reading questions

Somewhere in the Darkness Guided Reading

Somewhere in the Darkness Questions for pages 1 through 10

1. What is the main character’s full name?

2. What color is Jimmy?

3. Where does Mama Jean go on Wednesdays and why does she go there?

4. Read the following passage from Somewhere in the Darkness.

“The boy has got to realize how important education is,” his teacher had said to Mama Jean. “Especially for our people.”

What does the teacher’s response to Mama Jean indicate?

5. What grade is Jimmy in? How do you know?

6. What disgusted Jimmy when he was fixing his breakfast?

7. When Jimmy walks down to McDonough, where did he end up?

8. Describe Jimmy’s daydreams.

9. What did Jimmy do when he walked down the stairs of the apartment building? Why did he do this?

10. What floor did Jimmy live, in the apartment building?


11. Why did Jimmy take the stairs in the apartment building instead of riding in the elevator?

12. How old is Jimmy? How do you know?

13. Who is Cookie? What are some of her characteristics?

14. What point of view is the novel written in? How do you know?

15. Who is the author of Somewhere in the Darkness?

16. Is Somewhere in the Darkness fiction or nonfiction? How do you know?

17. What characteristics are evident about Jimmy?

18. What characteristics are evident about Mama Jean?

19. What floor of the apartment complex did Cookie live on?

20. What happened to Jimmy’s real mother?



21. What was the weather like on the day Jimmy decided to go to school?

22. What month of the year was it?

23. What was Jimmy concerned about, when he was getting ready to go to school?

24. Jimmy heard a sharp cry from behind him. What did he do?

25. Where did Mr. Haynes tell Jimmy to go, when he got to school? Who else was there?

26. Why were the police at the school?

27. According to Jimmy, what was the reason that he was sent to class and Rosalind was sent down to the office?

28. Half way through the achievement test what did Jimmy realize?

29. When was the test over? What did Jimmy do after he was finished taking it?

30. How did watching television help Jimmy?

31. What did Cookie want to tell Jimmy, when he arrived back at the apartment?


32. How is Crab related to Jimmy? How do you know?

33. Specifically, what was in the mailbox?

34. Where had Crab been for the past several years?

35. Do you think Jimmy is suffering from depression? Why or why not?

Somewhere in the Darkness


Questions for pages 20 through 29

36. What was Crab’s real name?

37. Describe Crab’s physical characteristics.

38. Who is Jimmy named after?

39. What was Jimmy looking through? What did he find?

40. According to Mama Jean, where had Jimmy’s father been?

41. What was Jimmy’s mother’s name? How do you know?

42. Why didn’t Crab let Mama Jean and Jimmy know he was coming?

43. What kind of sandwich did Jimmy fix for Crab, while they were waiting for Mama Jean?

44. According to Crab, being in jail was worse than what?

45. At first was Mama Jean glad to see Crab? Why or why not?

Somewhere in the Darkness


Questions for pages 30 through 39

46. How many years had Crab been in Jail?

47. Why did Crab want to go to Chicago?

48. When Crab peered in the cabinet under the sink to fix the drain, what did he see?

49. What did Jimmy pull out from the freezer? Why?

50. What did Crab find in the trap of the sink drain?

51. Jimmy’s stomach was hurting. What did he start remembering?

52. When things went wrong for Mama Jean and Jimmy, what did Mama Jean always say?

53. What did Mama Jean fix for dinner? What type of conversation took place while they were eating?

54. What did Mama Jean ask Jimmy if he wanted to take with him?


55. When Crab and Jimmy left, and were on the front steps, Mama Jean called from the window. What did she say? What did Jimmy do? What did Mama Jean give Jimmy?

56. What did Jimmy notice about the way Crab walked?

57. What did Jimmy always imagine his father to be like?



58. What city did Jimmy and Crab arrived in?

59. Where did Crab tell the service station attendant he and Jimmy were headed to?

60. According to Crab, what should they have brought on the trip?

61. Jimmy noticed a customer at the diner, describe him.

62. While he was at the diner with Crab, how did Jimmy picture Mama Jean?

63. At the diner, why did Crab jump and hold back the curtain?

64. Why did Crab push the cradle down on the phone, while Jimmy was trying to call Mama Jean?

65. What did Crab want to tell Jimmy that was so important? Use detail in your answer.

66. How many times was Crab at Green Haven?

67. What was the reason for Crab’s first stay at Green Haven?

68. How long was Crab suppose to stay at Green Haven, the second time?

69. What medical issue did Crab mention that he had?

70. Why didn’t Crab write Jimmy letters?


71. What did Crab want to say in the letters to Jimmy?

72. What information did Crab share with Jimmy that got Jimmy upset?

73. What two things did Crab say that the jury knew about him?

74. How did Crab escape from jail?

75. What story did Crab share with Jimmy, as to why he was incarcerated?

76. Where was Crab when the incident he was accused of happen?

77. Who was Crab wanting to have explain something to Jimmy and why?


Somewhere in the DarknessQuestions for pages 56 through 73

78. What time of day did Crab and Jimmy arrive in Chicago?

79. Who did Crab want to help him get his “hands on some money”?

80. Who did Crab say Jimmy looked like?

81. What did Jimmy think about asking Crab?

82. What caused Crab’s brother to die? Where was he when he died?

83. How long did Crab pay for the rooming house and how much did it cost?

84. When was the first time Jimmy seen Crab smile?

85. What was Mavis’s last name?

86. How long had Crab and Jimmy been away from New York?

87. Did Mama Jean ever drink alcohol?

88. Where does Mavis work?

89. What did Mavis say the projects had?

90. What was Frank getting ready for, at the gym?

91. What are some characteristics of Frank? Provide details in your answer.

92. Describe the fight Frank had in the boxing ring.


93. What happened when Jimmy went back to the gym to ask Frank when Mavis got off work?

94. Crab said he had a Job and sent Jimmy back to where they were staying. How did Jimmy get there?

95. What kind of job did Crab supposedly land?

96. On the way back to Cahill Street, what did Jimmy do?

97. What did Sister Green from the church always say?

98. What did an old man try to sell Jimmy?

99. According to the old man, why did people wear gold?

100. Describe the setting of their room at the rooming house.



101. Jimmy had said that there were things to think about. What were they?

102. Who taught Jimmy about angels?

103. What was Jimmy’s vision of how his mother looked?

104. What did Jimmy purchase at the small grocery store?

105. Who did Jimmy make a telephone call to? What was he told?

106. Who is Doreen?

107. How much did it cost Jimmy to get to Vernon’s? Why did he go there?

108. When Billy Davis played the sax, how did Jimmy think it sounded?

109. What did Crab say was wrong with him?

110. What did Jimmy think was like “a shadow that fell over him in the darkness?

111. Where did Crab say they were heading “tomorrow”?

112. Who taught Billy Davis to play the sax?

113. When did Jimmy think it was easier to be around Crab?

114. How did Mama Jean walk when she was tired?

115. How did Crab walk when he was feeling good?


116. How long did Crab say it would take them to get to Arkansas?

117. Is Frank a son of Crab? How do you know?

118. What did Crab say he would teach Jimmy to do?

119. At the car rental office, what name did Crab use? How did he pay for the car?



120. What was the weather like when Crab and Jimmy headed out of Chicago?

121. What happened that caused Jimmy to have a hurt cheek?

122. What did Crab mean by, “…a lot of cats kick off in the slam.”?

123. What did Jimmy tell Crab about how he felt about him?

124. When Jimmy asked Crab what he needed, what was Crabs response?

125. What was Crab’s response to Jimmy, when Jimmy asked him why he used a different name, when renting the car?

126. What was Crab’s father’s name?

127. What did Crab’s father do for a living?

128. What story did Crab tell Jimmy about? How old was he when the story took place?

129. Where was Crab when his father died?

130. According to Jimmy, what was in front of him?

Somewhere in the DarknessQuestions for pages 104through 117


131. When Jimmy woke up after a long ride from Chicago, what time of day was it? What was the setting like?

132. What time was it when Jimmy woke Crab?

133. What state were they in?

134. Why didn’t Jimmy get back in the car, once Crab was up and walking around?

135. Provide at least four details as to what the Blue Light was like.

136. When Crab was a boy, what did he think was the biggest thing to do in the world?

137. Where did Crab tell the waitress he once lived?

138. Who did Crab ask the waitress if she seen much?

139. Who was the conjure man?

140. Why did Crab want to go see the conjure man?

141. While they were driving in the country, Jimmy noticed something about the men that stood on the porches. What was it?


142. What ailment did Crab say he had?

143. What did Crab say he needed, to feel better?

144. What had Rydell been working on since he was a kid?



145. What did Crab and Jimmy stop for, before going on to Marion? What was the name of the place?

146. What did Jimmy do, besides buy groceries?

147. How was Jimmy beginning to feel about Crab? How do you know?

148. What does segregation mean, according to Crab?

149. Why did Crab tell the policeman that he and Jimmy were headed to Forrest instead of Marion?

150. What is soil with dust, according to Crab?

151. What did the policeman do that made Crab ease the car backward around a corner?

152. After 10 more minutes of driving, where did Crab and Jimmy end up?

153. Who was the woman who wore a wig that came down over one side of her forehead?

154. Who was Jesse and what did she look like?

155. What did Crab tell Jimmy that the conjure man was like?


156. Who is High John?


157. According to High John, where does a man find his peace?

158. What did High John have Crab do? Why?

159. What are some physical characteristics of High John?

160. What did Jimmy want to do for Crab, while they were at High John’s?

161. What grows wild near the railroad tracks?

162. What startled Jimmy awake?

163. Where did Crab use to go when he was younger? What did he find when he went?

164. Who was invited to visit Miss Mackenzie’s home? Why?

165. What did Rydell Depuis look like?

166. What was the reason Crab gave for having Jimmy go with him to meet Rydell?

167. According to Crab, what do dreams start with, for people in prison?

168. Jimmy accused Crab of not knowing how to be something, what was it?

169. While at the creek, Miss Mackenzie’s girl arrived with some news. What was it?



170. Who arrived after Miss Mackenzie’s girl? What did they want?

171. What name did Jimmy call Crab, at this point in the novel?

172. What did the policeman tell the orderly to do, when the orderly arrived with food for Crab?

173. Where was Crab when he died? Who was with him? Was anything resolved?

174. Where was Jimmy headed, after the funeral?

175. Provide a position statement that indicates if you believe that Crab was innocent or guilty of the crime he was put in prison for. Follow this statement with three sentences that give support to your position statement.

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Somewhere in the darkness guided reading questions