7th grade Novel – Crispin: The Cross of Lead
Answer the questions on loose leaf paper and bring to class on the first day of school.
Chapters 1-12
1. What happened to Crispin’s father, according to Asta?
2. What does Crispin witness John Aycliffe doing in the forest one night?
3. What happens to the house in which Crispin grew up?
4. Why is Crispin labeled a “wolf’s head”?
5. Do the people in Crispin’s village believe he stole from the manor? Explain your
answer.
6. What surprising things does the priest tell Crispin about his mother?
7. What items does Goodwife Peregrine give Crispin?
8. What happens when Crispin takes Cedric’s advice about which direction to
travel?
Chapters 13-24
1. What items does Crispin find in the leather pouch, and what does he do with
them?
2. What does Crispin see that wants to make him stay alive?
3. How do you think Bear feels about England’s government?
4. Why does Crispin have to serve Bear?
5. Why might it be important to know how to read in Crispin’s era?
6. What does Crispin learn about Lord Furnival from Bear?
7. Why does Bear advise Crispin to lose his sorrows?
8. If Crispin were to live by questions, what would they be?
Chapter 25-35
1. Why does bear cut Crispin’s hair and ask him to wash his face, and then look at
his reflection?
2. What does Crispin realize about bear’s threats and warnings?
3. Why does bear teach Crispin to play the recorder?
4. How does the village of Lodgecot remind Crispin of his own village of
Stromford?
5. What does Crispin observe about the one-eyed man in Lodgecot?
6. What does bear teach Crispin about eye contact?
7. How does the relationship between Bear and Crispin change during this section of
the book?
8. How do Crispin and bear get through the gates of Great Wexly?
Chapter 36-47
1. Why does Crispin disobey Bear and leave him?
2. What does Crispin observe about Lady Furnival?
3. Why can’t Crispin leave Great Wexly?
4. Why does Crispin fear that he and Bear have been trapped?
5. Why does the widow Daventry give Crispin a job in the kitchen?
6. What does the Widow Daventry tell Crispin about Bear?
7. Why does John Ball want England to change?
8. Why do John Aycliffe and his soldiers take Bear away?
Chapter 48-58
1. According to Widow Daventry, why might John Aycliffe torture Bear?
2. What does Crispin learn about the widow’s family?
3. Why is Crispin’s noble blood poison?
4. Why Lady Furnival afraid that Lord Douglas will find out about Crispin?
5. Why does Crispin decide to try and free Bear?
6. How the inside of the castle is different from anything Crispin’s ever seen?
7. Why does Crispin see the picture in the palace?
8. At the end of the book, Bear says, “In the midst of death, there is life.” What does
this mean?