The Secret Life of Bees Reading Questions

English 3/4 Peterson

Name_____________________
Period_________
Chapter 1
Vocab
presumptuous insomniac orneriness cowlick mercantile
imbecile carousing smirking oblivious sashaing
unperturbed recoil
Reading Questions
1) What is Lilys relationship to Rosaleen?
2) What things does Lily fantasize about doing with her mother when they meet in paradise?
3) Who does Lily believe is responsible for her mothers death? Why?
4) What does Lily keep in a tin box, buried in the orchard?
5) How did Lily react to her teachers announcement that they would be reading another
Shakespeare play?
6) Why is Rosaleen so excited about what she sees on tv? What is going on?
7) Why is T. Ray so upset with Lily when he finds her in the woods?
8) What is Lilys punishment for sneaking out?
9) When Lily and Rosaleen go into town on Lilys birthday, what does Rosaleen intend to do?
10) Why is Rosaleen arrested? What provoked the incident?

The Secret Life of Bees Reading Questions

English 3/4 Peterson
Chapter 2
Vocab
deliberate brazen beseeching pious blaspheme
Reading Questions
1. Why does Rosaleen refuse to apologize? What happens to her when she doesnt?
2. What does T. Ray say to Lily that upsets her so much? (paraphrase, please)
3. What does it mean when Lily hears a voice tell her, your jar is open?
4. Where does Lily decide to go when she runs away? Why?
5. Where does Lily find Rosaleen? Why is she there?
6. How does Lily convince Rosaleen to escape?
7. Why do you think Rosaleen is so upset when she finds out what prompted Lily to run away?
8. What does Lily mean when she says, I was thinking how much older fourteen had made me. In
the space of a few hours Id become forty years old.
9. Why do you think the author begins each chapter with a fact about bees?