Name ____________________________________________ GENTLEHANDS, Worksheet #1
Chapter 1
1. The story is being told by _________________________ during the __________________.
2. Describe Skye Pennington. ____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
3. Describe Buddy Boyle. _______________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
4. Who is Streaker? ____________________________________________________________
5. Describe Bill and Inge Boyle. ___________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
6. Bill is annoyed at Buddy for spending _________________ on_________________________
7. How does Bill refer to Skye? ___________________________________________________
8. True or False
Buddy's father had trouble expressing himself verbally.
9. Streaker went to Mrs. Schneider's house for _______________________________________
10. Buddy has a summer job at ___________________________________________________
11. Describe Frank Trenker. _____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
12. Before his date with Skye, Buddy's mom said he looked like __________________________
Chapter 2
1. Skye thought Buddy looked like ________________________________________________
2. Describe Beauregard. ________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
3. Identify: Peacock __________________________________________________________
4. Describe Nick DeLucca. _____________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
5. What's a townie? ___________________________________________________________
6. What's a Jensen? ___________________________________________________________
7. Who is Bachoo? ___________________________________________________________
8. What did Skye mean by, "Mummy found everybody but a black"? ______________________
___________________________________________________________________________
9. Why did Skye kiss Buddy by the garage? _________________________________________
10. Where does Buddy tell Skye to drive? ___________________________________________
Chapter 3
1. Who is Mignon? ____________________________________________________________
2. Buddy realizes that Skye does this when she was nervous. ____________________________
3. What was playing in Trenker's home? ___________________________ How does Buddy feel
about this?______________________________________________________
4. What is the difference in the reaction towards birds by? Skye __________________________
____________________________________ Grandpa Trenker _________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
5. When Skye said this, it was her highest compliment?_________________________________
6. How was Buddy "borrowing glory" that evening? ___________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
7. What fantastic thing did Skye do that evening? _____________________________________
8. What does Trenker mean by, "An ass who goes traveling doesn't come back a horse"?
______________________________________________________________________________
9. He also says, "Obstacles are challenges for _______________, and excuses for ______________."
Chapter 4
1. What did Bill Boyle comment about when Skye dropped Buddy off at his home? __________
___________________________________________________________________________
2. Buddy promised his dad he'd take Streaker _______________________________________
3. Who is Kick Richards? ______________________________________________________
4. Kick says Buddy someday will be a gozlin. Explain. ________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
5. Describe Ollie. _____________________________________________________________
Chapter 5
1. What lie did Buddy tell his mom? _______________________________________________
2. What was the first thing Mrs. Pennington said to Buddy? _____________________________ and
he replied ___________________________.
3. Name two games they were playing. ______________________ and ____________________
4. The townies referred to The Hadefield Club as _____________________________________
5. True or False The red sweater was Skye's.
6. __________________ drives Buddy home.
Chapter 6
1. After leaving Skye's, Buddy is in a _______________________________________mood.
2. What was unusual about the dinner conversation? _________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
3. Bill Boyle does this to Buddy in the yard after dinner: ____________________________________
4. Buddy compared his father to an angry ____________________________.
5. Buddy's punishment for lying is__________________________________________________
6. What did Buddy carelessly leave behind at his job? __________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
7. Why is this punishment a problem for Buddy?_______________________________________
Name _________________________________________________ GENTLEHANDS, WKST. 2
Chapter 7
1. Sunday morning Inge goes to _________________ and Buddy ________________________
2. After disappointing Streaker, Buddy plays ___________________ letting him win five games.
3. Streaker wants to go to the ______________ but Buddy wants to make a ________________
4. DWI means _______________________________________________________________
5. Defenestration meant Skye would _______________________________________________
6. Skye's Uncle Louie said she was an infracaninophile. Explain._________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
7. What was the magic mystery hunt? ______________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
8. What is the "sparrow grass" that Streaker wanted Buddy to eat? ________________________
9. Buddy puts two dimes in Streaker's piggy bank because ______________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 8
1. Buddy compares Beauregard and Skye as ___________________________ to him.
2. Dimanche d’jeuner to us is just ________________________________________________
3. Skye gives Buddy a ______________________________ as a present.
4. Buddy says it must belong to _________________________.
5. The sweater incident was both awkward and embarrassing to Buddy. Explain. ____________
___________________________________________________________________________
6. True or False Beauregard picnic baskets were unlike any other picnic baskets to Buddy.
7. What second lie does Buddy tell his Mom at 3:35 P.M. ______________________________
8. Instead of the magic mystery hunt, Buddy gave Streaker his ___________________________
9. Things started going wrong that night when _______________________ joined the bonfire.
10. Conversation with Connie and Rachel was a matter of one-liners. Explain. _______________
___________________________________________________________________________
11. Uncle Louie was outraged that _________________ were being allowed in The Hadefield.
12. Skye then tells the story of the ________________ Santa Claus.
13. Rachel sings her poem/story about a boyfriend who was _____________________________
14. ________________ then recited a poem called "Gentlehands."
15. Roselina DeLucca wrote the poem while she was in ________________________________
16. Skye has difficulty understanding that Italians can be _______________________________
17. After DeLucca leaves, why does Skye grab Buddy's hand and say, "Get me out of here."
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 9
1. Skye wanted to drive to _________________________ insisting the whole time that she wasn't
________________________ like her uncle Louie.
2. Charatans and meerschaums are _______________________________________________
3. Buddy tells his Grandpa he'd like to have _____________________ to drink.
4. Buddy's answer to Beauregard was being at _______________________________________
5. According to Buddy, when you live alone you become a creature of _____________________
6. What does Frank Trenker reveal about his background? ______________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
7. True or False Inge's mother was the first woman Trenker loved.
8. Tell me about Carla. _________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
9. Telling his story of the past, Trenker said when he returned from hours in the city, he smelled
something very familiar. What? ___________________________________________________
10. Trenker calls ___________________ and tells her that Buddy will _____________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 10
1. The next morning Trenker was talking to ________________ on the phone.
2. According to Trenker, Inge was _____________________ to hear that Buddy was with him.
3. Trenker told Buddy he was _________________ too, like him.
4. True or False Trenker makes excuses for Buddy's actions.
5. ______________ hated summer because he was a nothing in the summer.
6. Buddy said that by September he would be a big blob of ___________________________
7. According to his friend's mom, it wasn't what you looked like that was important to Skye's crowd, it
was ________________________________________________________________
8. Skye said it was a perfect day since she was accepted to ________________________ even though
her grades in high school were not that great.
9. The only thing Buddy never discussed with Skye was the difference in ___________________
10. Buddy was desperate to live that summer as if ____________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
11. Inge calls her father a ______________________ which shocks Buddy.
12. "I want to know about _________________" cried (literally) Buddy.
13. Inge tells Buddy that Bill said he doesn't care if_____________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 11
1. Buddy now lives ____________________________________________________________
2. True or False Buddy's parting with Streaker was a friendly one.
3. Bill Boyle used this expression in describing Streaker: ________________________________
4. True or False Buddy went with the Penningtons to The Hadefield Club that night.
5. Skye said when her brother Og graduated from Yale, he was going to be a _______________
6. When Buddy admitted he wasn't familiar with that word, Skye said that she liked
__________________________________________________________________________
7. True or False Skye didn't like the idea of Buddy being jealous.
8. Buddy notices a person doing what unusual thing from the elephant grass by the beach?
__________________________________________________________________________
9. Trenker excitedly told Buddy to shower and change since _______________ was coming to dinner.
Chapter 12
1. What were some of the "jobs" that Trenker had before settling down in Montauk?
___________________________________________________________________________
2. Wer rastet, rostet means _____________________________________________________
3. Buddy tells Trenker he wants to know about ______________________________________
4. "The Lorelei inspires the interest," said Trenker. Explain. _____________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
5. Why did Trenker say he left Germany? ___________________________________________
6. Adlai Stevenson said, "Communism is the ___________________ of the soul."
7. After dinner, Trenker and Inge did this. __________________________________________
8. Mignon's barking brought all three outside finding a wounded _________________________
9. Trenker mentions the horrors of seeing a raccoon caught in a steel trap being ravaged by
___________________________________.
10. True or False Trenker takes the wounded animal to the doctor himself.
11. True or False Both Bill and Inge want to let "bygones be bygones" and start all over with
Buddy about the Skye situation.
12. True or False When he goes to sleep that night, Buddy thinks everything will be OK.
Name __________________________________________________ Gentlehands, Worksheet #3
Chapter 13
1. They named the baby raccoon ________________________________ because that was his
_________________________________________________________________________
2. True or False Buddy spent a great deal of time with Skye over the 4th of July weekend.
3. What did Grandfather Trenker mean by "Less is always more in everything"? ___________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
4. Trenker told his grandson to stop calling himself ____________________ because it was a
_________________________. Which name did Trenker favor? _______________________
5. Buddy felt he didn't have much ____________________ but Grandfather said it was the best gift
one can give oneself.
6. Who is Mrs. Townsend? ____________________________________________________
7. Buddy brought ______________________ with him to Skye's home.
8. True or False Buddy's regular crowd experimented more with drugs than Skye's crowd.
9. Bill Boyle's favorite word was ____________________________
10. What did Buddy and Skye tell each other about their feelings? ________________________
11. What secret did Skye tell Buddy about Mr. DeLucca? ______________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 14
1. When Trenker said, "Opportunity and responsibility go hand in hand," he was criticizing Buddy for
___________________________________________________________________
2. Grandfather makes an analogy of some people's lives with sitting in a ___________________
as the eternal audience.
3. True or False Grandpa sees Og Pennington as a weak person.
4. Grandpa told Buddy to be on ___________________, not in the audience.
5 True or False Buddy lies to impress Skye saying he wants to be a lawyer.
6. True or False Buddy repeats more and more of his grandpa's words to impress Skye.
7. Skye refers to Buddy as this really _____________________ number and that she loved
_________________ at him since he was better than anything else around that summer.
8. Grandfather put on ___________________, one of his favorite operas. Its famous aria is
O dolci mani which translates to ________________________________.
9. When questioned by Grandfather as to where Skye heard that story, she said ______________
told her.
10. True or False Skye is starting to believe Trenker might be Gentlehands and Buddy agrees.
Chapter 15
1. Grandfather tells Buddy that he has already spoken with _________________________.
2. True or False Trenker says it is a case of mistaken identity because he was a German soldier
during World War I.
3. Buddy implies that Gentlehands could be Mr. ___________________ which amuses Trenker who
describes that person as an old man who collects stamps like a boy.
4. The Seaville Citizen was _______________________________________
5. All immigrants upon entrance to America must sign a statement declaring they never participated in
the persecution of a minority because of _______________, _________________
or _________________________________.
6. True or False Most of the citizens interviewed said Trenker should be sent back to Germany
7. _____________________ came by and told Buddy to get in the car.
8. Buddy is reluctant to answer his father's questions because he said he wasn't interested in Buddy's
___________________. Again, he borrows his grandfather's words.
9. Bill Boyle refers to Skye as Miss _____________________ from Beaublahblah.
Chapter 16
1. True or False Inge was more interested in protecting their identity than in defending her father.
2. Buddy compares Trenker's loyalty to Germany during WWII with America's involvement in
_______________________ during the late 60's and early 70's.
3. Disobeying his parents, Buddy drives the ___________________over to Skye's.
4. _____________________________ wanted to talk privately with Buddy.
5. He uses the argument that newspapers must be careful what they print or they can be sued for
_________________.
6. Buddy agrees to what demand concerning Skye? ___________________________________
7. Buddy remembers a poem he once memorized, which at the time had little meaning to him. Now
the poem ____________ by Kipling has real meaning about Grandpa Trenker.
8. True or False At this point in his life, Buddy felt Trenker was the only family he cared for.
9. What unusual things did Graham do for Grandpa? _________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
10. T or F Trenker voices the concern that something might happen to him.
11. When they investigate the honking of the Alfa's horn, they find ________________________
with a sign saying ________________ dog!
Chapter 17
1. Grandfather's reaction was to tell Buddy to _______________________________________
2. The only thing he asked Buddy to do was to make a phone call in the morning to New York saying
_____________________________________________________________________
3. T or F Buddy hugs his grandfather goodbye.
4. T or F Buddy feels he knows his grandfather better than his own parents.
5. Streaker thinks a Nazi is a _____________________
6. Streaker insists that Trenker is not his ____________________________
7. Buddy tells Streaker that he shouldn't eat anymore of Mrs. Schneider's brownies because
_________________________________________________________________________
8. 212-324-4513 was the phone number of _______________________________________
9. Kick makes what announcement concerning the Sweet Mouth? _______________________
10. T or F Skye believes that the news about Trenker is a terrible mistake.
11. Kick said he chose pot over marriage when his wife, Mrs. Townsend, said that Trenker was only
doing his ____________________.
12. The letter delivered to Buddy was from ______________________________
13. He says in the letter that Buddy brought him great _______________________ and that he knew
the person (in the newspaper) only by hearsay now. "He is as much a _________________
to me as he will be to you. I live in the present between . . . what was and __________________
Chapter 18
1. T or F The article in The New York Record by De Lucca was widely read in Seaville.
2. The article included four photographs, which were of:________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
3. How did Carla Fornez die? ____________________________________________________
4. Dr. Werner Renner has two passions: collecting ____________ and carving _____________
5. T or F Realizing who Werner Renner was had a tremendous impact on Buddy.
6. According to the article, Trenker was a member of the SS ________________________ units,
concerned with concentration camps.
7. How did Trenker and Renner get money for after the war? ____________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
8. At the end of the war both men escaped to Austria into Italy and by boat to _______________
9. Buddy believes the package on its way to the Stanton Stamp Shop was __________________
10. According to Buddy, trying to impress Skye enabled him to __________________________
11. T or F Buddy enjoys talking over the situation with Skye while they rode around in her car.
12. T or F For the first time Buddy sarcastically answers Skye when she talks about Connie.
13. Buddy decides to take Skye home, pick up Streaker and go to _____________________ even
though he knows it is a bad idea.
14. Why are Buddy's thoughts about his grandfather so difficult at this time? ________________
__________________________________________________________________________
15. Buddy pokes fun at Skye's "trademark" which was to _______________________________
16. At that point Buddy says aloud for the first time, "My grandfather is ___________________"
17. Inge is upset because Streaker was ________________________ at Mrs. Schneider's home.
Chapter 19
1. Every August at Beauregard, they throw a __________________ Party.
2. What was Buddy wearing? ____________________________________________________
3. Why did DeLucca thank Buddy? _______________________________________________
4. T or F Skye never waits for Buddy to answer her questions--she just keeps talking on.
5. T or F Buddy chooses Skye's party over going to his father's annual ballgame and picnic.
6. T or F Buddy and Skye part on happy, loving terms.
7. In what condition was the house in Montauk when Buddy got there? __________________
_________________________________________________________________________
8. T or F Before going into the bedroom where the music was playing, Buddy said, "Grandfather, it's
me."
9. _______________________ had done all the damage.
10. Why doesn't Buddy take the navy blue cashmere sweater with him when he leaves the house in
Montauk for the last time? ___________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________.