Reading Assignment #2:
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story
By: Ben Carson
Mandatory Reading Assignment #2
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story
By: Ben Caron
The following assignment is broken down into three segments, a
vocabulary segments, reading response questions and an extension
activity. The guide is broken down for each chapter. You will need to
read a chapter and then complete the vocabulary for that chapter and
the questions for that chapter. At the end, you will need to choose
one of the extension activities to complete. Please make sure to label
each section in your guided reading tool book and number each
question.
Segment 1
Vocabulary
Directions: For each chapter you have been assigned vocabulary words. You will
need to complete the following activities for each word in the chapter. You
should:
1. Write the definition for the word
2. Write one synonym and one antonym for the word
3. Use the word in a sentence of your own, using it in the same context as
found in the text.
Chapter 1
Affectionate
Resentment
Legitimate
profound
Offhandedly
Recollection
Contentment
Reluctantly
Vaguely
Assurance
1. From what point of view is the story told?
2. How old is Carson when his father leaves?
3. Why is it difficult for Carson to understand why his father has to leave?
4. Why do Carson’s parents divorce?
5. Why does Carson come to accept his father’s absence?
6. How does the absence of their father affect Carson and his brother?
7. Who does Carson credit as the most influential person in his life?
Chapter 2
Predominantly
Frugality
Migrated
Stigmas
Stereotypical
Premonition
Lucrative
Circulated
Dictate
Detrimental
Evangelists
tenements
1. Why does the school counselor put Curtis in a vocational program?
2. How does Mrs. Carson react to the counselor’s decision?
3. What does this event tell us about Mrs. Carson?
4. Contrast the values of Carson’s mother and father.
5. Why do the Carsons marry?
6. How does Mrs. Carson deal with the stress of being a single parent?
7. Where does the family move?
Chapter 3
Dilapidated
Escarpment
Inevitable
perception
Concoctions
Deviated
Conjecture
Precipice
Prefab
Invariably
1. Describe the Boston neighborhood in which the Carsons live.
2. How does Mrs. Carson make her living?
3. What two events make Carson’s eighth year his favorite?
4. What leads Carson to decide that he wants to be a doctor?
5. What do you suppose Carson means by “upper-lower-class neighborhood”?
6. What information does Carson’s mother drill into her sons?
7. Why does Carson fall behind in school?
8. What stereotype does Ben face in school?
9. Discuss Carson’s use of suspense in the final paragraph of Chapter 3?
Chapter 4
Compulsory
Protozoa
Placated
menacing
Unbounded
Thrived
Recoiled
Knack
Conscious
Berate
1. What two positive factors lead to Carson’s rise to the top of his class?
2. Describe Carson’s mother’s reaction to her son’s improvement.
3. Why do the Carson boys always obey their mother?
4. What rules does Mrs. Carson create to force her boys to study more?
5. Why does Ben’s internal motivation to succeed improve?
6. How does Carson’s relationship with his peers change?
7. Why does Ben not tell his mother about the three incidents of racial prejudice?
8. What does Carson find ironic about his relationship with his mother?
Chapter 5
Cohorts
Ostracized
Zealous
Persisted
Devout
Sarcastic
Acutely
Unconventional
Relatively
Sympathetically
Subsidy
Pivotal
Genuinely
Sophisticated
1. Explain the ritual of capping.
2. What simile does Ben use in this chapter to describe the size of the home his family
moves
back to? What does the simile imply about the home?
3. What pressure does Ben feel for the first time in his life?
4. How does Carson win acceptance?
5. What does Carson feel he needs to be accepted at school?
6. On page 51, Ben says that he was having fun but was not happy. What is the difference?
7. Who had an impact on Mrs. Carson’s life?
Chapter 6
Profusely
Irrational
Pathological
engulfed
1. What personality trait affects Carson?
2. How does Carson overcome his problem?
3. Paraphrase the quote from Proverbs on page 59.
Chapter 7
Dynamic
Rambunctious
Entourage
Unprecedented
Emulate
Reverting
Precluding
Cultivated
Indifference
Elated
Divert
1. What hospital is Carson interested in working for?
2. What area of medicine does Ben decide he wants to pursue?
3. Who does Carson look up to as a role model? Why?
4. What attitude does Mrs. Carson reinforce in her children through poems and quotations?
5. Why does Ben get involved in ROTC?
6. Why does Ben turn down the West Point scholarship?
7. What does Carson become interested in after studying it for the College Bowl?
Chapter 8
Arrogantly
Perceptive
Nebulous
contradicted
Accommodations
Deterred
Resignation
Befitted
Echelon
Discordant
1. Why does Carson apply to only one college?
2. How does Carson feel about finishing high school third in his class?
3. How does Carson decide on Yale?
4. What does Carson realize about himself after one week at Yale?
5. Discuss the personification in the following sentence: “But the beauty of that autumn day
mocked me. “ (Pg. 74)
6. To what does Carson attribute his ability to pass the chemistry test?
Chapter 9
Prestigious
Audacious
Productivity
Bewailing
1. What does Carson believe about rules?
2. How does Ben get his crew to pick up so much trash?
3. How does Carson get most of his summer jobs?
4. What two experiences reinforce Ben’s faith in God?
5. What is the purpose of the hoax Carson is caught in?
Flabbergasted
Inadvertently
Chapter 10
Mesmerized
Introspective
Prelude
subsequently
Exuberance
Intriguing
Panorama
Efferyescent
Monotonous
Aptitude
1. Whose smile “mesmerized” Ben? (Pg. 91)
2. What happens on the drive back to Yale?
3. What natural ability does Carson realize he is blessed with?
Chapter 11
Tormented
Compulsion
Adversely
Concisely
Consoled
Realm
Excelled
Trepidation
Oblique
rapport
Resent
Intuitively
Aspirations
Digression
1. What area of medicine becomes a compulsion to Ben?
2. In what way do other doctors begin taking advantage of Carson? How does he feel
about it?
3. Why does Ben decide to apply at Johns Hopkins instead of remain at the University of
Michigan?
4. Why is application to John Hopkins risky?
5. What is ironic about the reason Carson begins studying classical music?
6. What does Carson do between his second and third years of medical school?
7. Why does Ben maintain a good rapport with the hospital staff?
8. What message does Ben feel it is important for young people to hear?
Chapter 12
Adamant
Inadequate
Caustic
Censured
Pompus
malformations
1. What prejudice does Carson face when he becomes an intern at Johns Hopkins?
2. How does Ben react to prejudice?
3. What value does Carson see in Vietnamese immigrants that he thinks African Americans
should adopt?
4. What honor does Carson receive at Johns Hopkins?
5. Why does Carson go ahead with the operation even though he cannot locate the faculty
member who is in charge?
6. For what does Carson win the Resident of the Year Award?
Chapter 13
Evasive
Auspices
Integration
Apartheid
Stamina
Bigotry
Trepidation
Tedious
prerogative
1. Why does Carson not want to go to Australia?
2. What information leads Carson to change his mind?
3. How are the Carsons able to meet so many people in Australia so quickly?
4. Why is Ben’s time in Australia so valuable to his career?
5. What job does Carson accept soon after his return to the United States?
Chapter 14
Deter
Tenacious
serenity
1. What is wrong with Maranda?
2. How does Carson feel when he first meets Maranda?
3. Why does Carson feel it is important to tell Maranda’s mother every negative fact?
4. What homework assignment does Ben give Maranda’s parents?
Chapter 15
Cauterized
Alleviating
inkling
Profusely
Markedly
Permeated
Intuitively
1. For what two reasons is Carson confident about Maranda’s surgery?
2. What possible disabilities does Maranda face even if the operation is successful?
3. Describe the results of Maranda’s surgery.
4. Why does Carson turn down the opportunity to appear on The Phil Donahue Show?
5. Explain how a person can function with only half of the brain.
6. How is the relationship between doctors different in the United States from in Australia?
7. What does Carson’s reaction to Jennifer’s death reveal about his personality?
Chapter 16
Radical
Aspirated
Lethargic
Indictments
Derogatory
amenable
1. What caused the onset of Beth’s seizures?
2. What makes the decision to go through with Beth’s surgery especially difficult?
3. Who comes to visit Beth?
4. Why is there so much controversy over Denise’s surgery?
5. What does Carson learn from his experience with Denise?
Chapter 17
Galvanizes
Eroded
Metastasized
1. What caused Bo-Bo’s injury?
2. What is a “four plus emergency”? (Pg. 170)
3. What attitude does Ben face from his colleague?
4. What causes Charles’s injury?
5. Why was Charles’s recovery not as complete as Bo-Bo’s?
6. Why were the doctors unable to save Danielle?
7. Why does Carson share Danielle’s story?
Chapter 18
Transpired
Ectastic
unflabbable
Markedly
Bandied
Deteriorate
Coagulated
1. Describe Craig and Susan’s relationship.
2. What two symptoms plague Craig even after his first surgery?
3. What does Dr. Miller do that renews Susan’s faith in the medical profession?
4. Why does Susan choose to keep the diagnosis from Craig?
T-25
5. What does Susan do to help her cope with Craig’s disease?
6. How is Ben’s experience with the Warnicks different from his experiences with other
patients and their families?
7. Describe Susan’s emotional state following the surgery.
8. What does Susan call to share with Carson as evidence of Craig’s miraculous recover?
Chapter 19
Relegated
Feasible
Tentatively
contingency
1. How does Theresa Binder react when she finds out that she is going to have
Siamese twins?
2. How does Theresa feel when the babies are born?
3. How many people are involved in the Binder twins’ surgery?
4. What happens two weeks before Ben is to travel to Germany?
5. What happens to reinforce Carson’s belief that God wants him to perform the surgery?
6. Why does Ben end Chapter 19 with the sentence: “If the infants continued to recover.”
Chapter 20
Lapse
Myriad
Assess
Spectacularly
Normalcy
exhilarated
1. How long does the surgery take?
2. What do the doctors do following the surgery so that the twins’ brains could recover?
3. What do the doctors find when they exit the operating room?
4. What aspect of the surgery is Ben particularly proud of?
5. What rumors about the twins becomes headline news? Is it true?
Chapter 21
Methodically
Adequate
abating
1. Where is Carson’s second child born, and who delivers the baby?
2. After the birth of his second child, what does Carson decide about his life?
3. What does Carson decide are the priorities in his life?
4. What must Carson give up to concentrate on his priorities?
5. What condition does Carson place on his marriage to Candy?
6. Why is it especially important to Carson that his sons know their father?
Chapter 22
Precluding
Grandiose
Incentive
Emulate
Perpetuating
naive
1. What do the Carsons hope to achieve?
2. What faults do the Carsons find with most established scholarships?
3. List the principles that make up Carson’s “Think Big” theory.
4. What does Carson see as a constant theme in his life?
5. What fault does Carson find with the media’s influence on the career goals of
today’s youth?
6. What does Carson feel should be emphasized in school?
7. In what way does Carson say today’s youth is naïve?
8. What makes Carson an unusual role model?
9. What does Ben feel is the key to success?
10. According to Carson, how should people look at obstacles?
Segment 3
Extension Activity
Directions: Choose one of the following activities to complete.
1. Create a collage that depicts the thematic material (the
theme/message) of the novel.
2. Create a collage that utilizes as many of the vocabulary terms
associated with the novel. Use both words and pictures to
visualize the concepts.
3. Design a diorama of any scene in the story.
4. Create a 10-question interview that you will conduct with Ben
Carson. Make sure your questions are original and higher level.
You will not only need to create the questions, you will also need
to answer the questions as you think Ben Carson would answer.
5. Using the Internet, trace Carson’s career path to become a
neurosurgeon. What does it take to become a neurosurgeon?
Create a timeline of his life.
6. Carson successfully separated the Binder twins who were joined
at the back of the head. Research the Binder twins. Where are
they now? Write a 2 page essay explaining where they are now,
and how they’ve been affected by the surgery.
7. Carson believes you can turn your dreams into reality. What are
your dreams? What are you doing to ensure your dreams will
come true? Create a poster depicting your dreams and how you
are going to achieve them.