100 Cupboards

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

1. Where did Henry live before coming to Kansas?

2. What does Henry think about when he is having trouble sleeping in Chapter 2? 

3. In Chapter 3, what does Frank sell online to a foreign collector?

4. What does Henry take off the wall in Chapter 4?

5. In Chapter 5, what does Henry pull out of the cupboard?

Short Answer

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

1. Describe the man that Henry sees coming out of the bathroom in Chapter 2.

2. What strange thing does Henry discover in his bedroom in Chapter 3?

3. When Henry has more time to investigate, in Chapter 4, what additional discoveries does he make?

4. At the beginning of Chapter 5, what things does Frank try when he is working on opening Grandfather's door? 

Paired Resources

“A Pair of Young NYC Siblings Have Started Their Own Detective Agency” by Kirstin Fawcett

• Brief article from Mental Floss that profiles seven- and ten-year-old detectives who solve neighborhood crimes
• This content connects to the novel’s themes of The Lure and Danger of Adventure and Solving the Puzzle with Both Logic and Chance.
• How do you guess Phoebe and Jack feel about solving puzzles? Do you guess their feelings are similar to or different from Henry’s? Why? Do you think they use logic or luck to solve their cases, or both? What about Henry’s discoveries so far is just chance? In what way is he trying to use logical puzzle-solving skills?
• Do you think that what Jack and Phoebe are doing is dangerous? Does Henry take any steps to make sure that what he is doing is safe? What do you think makes Henry keep his puzzle-solving a secret from his aunt and uncle?

“How to Help All Students Feel Safe to Be Themselves” by Naomi Ondrasek and Lisa Flook

• Teacher-appropriate (not student-facing) article from Greater Good Magazine that offers background on the damage social isolation can cause and actionable tips for schools and teachers
• Students might be offered a summary of the ideas the article contains and asked for their thoughts.
• This content connects to the novel’s theme of Creating Your Own Family.
• Henry feels like an outsider. What consequences does this have for him? Does he take action to feel more connected? How can the adults in his life help him create this sense of connection?

Chapters 6-10

Reading Check

1. In Chapter 6, what does Henry drink for the first time? 

2. What strange thing does Henry discover when he tries reaching through both the mailbox and the rainy box at the same time?

3. From the journal's diagram, what does Henry learn the rainy box is called?  

4. When Henry gets his knife back out of the Endor box, what does he discover is connected to his knife?

5. Whose hair does Henry end up pulling when he reaches into Box 24?

Short Answer

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

1. Which door does the key open, and what does Henry see inside this box?

2. What happens when Henry pushes the envelope out of the mailbox into the bright room on the other side? 

3. What do Henry and Henrietta see when they use the periscope to look inside the Badon Hill box?

4. When Henry wakes from his dream in Chapter 9, what does he see Blake staring at? 

Paired Resources

“Friends Drive Friends to Take Risks,” by Rick Nauert

• This article from LiveScience reviews recent research into risk-taking and friendship among teenagers.
• What point does this article make about young people, friends, and risk taking? Do you think that Henrietta and Henry take risks when they are together that they would not take on their own? Is one of them more willing to take risks than the other? Is it ever a good thing to have a friend who pushes you to take a risk?

“In Praise of Dreams” by Gary Soto

• This approachable poem by Gary Soto praises the many positive aspects of dreams.
• This content connects to the novel’s theme of Solving the Puzzle with Both Logic and Chance.
• How is reading these fragments of dreams like solving a puzzle? What are some of the things the poem’s speaker likes about dreams? Do you think Henry would agree with the speaker of Soto’s poem? Why or why not? Why do you think that Henry’s dreams are included in the story? What do they have to do with Henry’s attempt to solve a puzzle, and how are they like pieces of a puzzle for the reader, too?

Chapters 11-Epilogue

Reading Check

1. What is inside the large cupboard in Grandfather’s room?

2. Who is the elderly bald man whom Henrietta follows into the cupboard in Chapter 12? 

3. Who is the handsome baseball player who came through the cupboard when Dottie was young?

4. When the large, cloaked man enters the ballroom in Chapter 15, what animals do his servants lead in behind him? 

5. Who pushes the mangy black cat out the front door?

Short Answer

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

1. How does Henrietta end up in FitzFareen Hall?

2. What detail in Chapter 13, when Frank goes into Henry's room, hints to the reader that Frank knows more about the cupboards than he revealed so far? 

3. What do Penelope and Anastasia do after Nimiane makes all of the cupboard doors open at the same time?

4. How did Henry become a part of the family?

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