Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Reading Guide
Name:
Date
The End
How much time does “Eddie Maintenance” have in The End? (1)
What did Eddie’s job entail? (2)
How old is Eddie and what did Doctors just tell him he had? (3)
What stories went around about Eddie? (4, 8)
What did Eddie give Dominguez? What did Eddie tell Dominguez to do with it?(6)
Who is Marguerite? (9)
“No story sits by itself. Sometimes stories meet at corners and sometimes they cover one
another completely, like stones beneath a river.” (10)
Explain why this is an example of a simile.
What did Eddie make the little girl? (12)
What were Eddie’s last words? Summarize what happened? (14-18)
Vocabulary- define the following in context with Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet in
Heaven
Maintenance
Halibut
Shingles
Unraveling
Summarize the parts of plot that apparent:
Setting;
Time:
Place:
Characters:
Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Reading Guide
Name:
Date
The First Lesson
What does the Blue Man tell Eddie about fairness?
Why do people gather at funerals?
What did the Blue Man say about strangers?
SUNDAY, 3 P.M.
What is the emotion felt over Ruby Pier?
Today is Eddie’s Birthday
Why is this chapter italicized?
What does Eddie fight with his brother about?
Who begins dancing with Eddie?
What does Ma make Joe do?
Summarize the parts of plot that apparent:
Setting;
Time:
Place:
Characters:
Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Reading Guide
Name:
Date
The Second Person Eddie Meets in Heaven
What theme is developed in “Young men go to war…”?
What did the Captain promise his men?
What did Eddie do to initiate the escape?
Why do you think that some text is formatted in italics and other text formatted in normal type?
What might the dead hornets symbolize? EXPLAIN
How did Eddie get a limp?
Who caused the limp? Why?
According to the Captain, what is Heaven (or what does it allow us to do?)
According to the Captain, what is sacrifice?
Summarize the parts of plot that apparent:
Rising Action:
Conflict:
Literary devices/ Figurative language used:
Possible themes:
Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Reading Guide
Name:
Date
The Third Person Eddie Meets in Heaven
All Parents damage their children. What is youth compared to? What literary device is used
here?
How was Eddie’s glass damaged twice?
What was the final handprint on Eddie’s glass?
Why can’t Eddie’s father hear him?
When do you have peace?
What do fish symbolize?
Who is the woman?
What does the word coved (on page 120/ I AM RUBY) mean in relation to the dome?
What was Ruby’s explanation for why Eddie was there? IS this a theme?
Why was Eddie’s old man laughing from the grave?
THE THIRD LESSON
Identify the literary use of:
“Holding anger is poison” which literary devices?
“Things are not always what they seem to be”
What did Eddie’s father die of?
What was the refuge of Eddie’s father?
Summarize the parts of plot that apparent:
Rising Action:
Conflict:
Literary devices/ Figurative language used:
Possible themes:
Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Reading Guide
Name:
Date
The Fourth Person Eddie Meets in Heaven
What does Joe give Eddie on his birthday?
According to Eddie, what does fancy mean? Why do you think Eddie thinks that?
Why couldn’t Eddie and Marguerite have children?
“People say they ‘find’ love as if it were an object hidden by a rock.” (p. 155)
What figurative language is used here? What does it mean?
What was Marguerite’s choice in heaven?
“Love like rain can nourish from above, drenching couples with a soaking joy.”
What figurative language is used here? What does it compare?
What was the wound between Eddie and Marguerite?
What did Marguerite tell Eddie about dreaming on Earth?
Who said that when you fall asleep, you sometimes dream of your heaven, and your dreams help
form it.
Summarize the parts of plot that are apparent:
Rising Action:
Conflict:
Literary devices/ Figurative language used:
Possible themes:
Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Reading Guide
Name:
Date
The Fifth Person Eddie Meets in Heaven
What might the river symbolize?
In this chapter, Eddies Birthday descriptions seem to be brief and lumped together. Why do you
think Albom did this?
Who is Tala?
What might the stone symbolize?
Why is Eddie sad?
Why was Eddie supposed to be at Ruby Pier?
How does Albom use stones as another symbol before revealing the resolution?
(review page 10. What is repeated?)
What is the resolution?
What is the secret of Heaven?
Summarize the parts of plot that are apparent:
Falling action
resolution:
Literary devices/ Figurative language used:
Possible themes:
Use this information to PREPARE to write a plot summary of Mitch Albom’s The Five People
You Meet in Heaven. A rubric will be made available to writing standards.