Gathering Blue

Chapters 1-5

Reading Check

1. Matt (Chapter 1)

2. The Ruin Song (Chapter 3)

3. How to dye thread (Chapter 5)

Short Answer

1. Kira’s mother has died, and Kira has been sitting with her body in the field where her people leave their dead to be consumed by wild animals. (Chapter 1)

2. She hopes that she can earn a living “threading,” or performing decorative embroidery. (Chapter 2)

3. She wants to demonstrate that she is not a burden on the community and that she does not eat much. (Chapter 4)

Chapters 6-11

Reading Check

1. Several months/until the beginning of autumn (Chapter 7)

2. Gift (Chapter 8)

3. Soap (Chapter 10)

Short Answer

1. Kira’s new room in the Edifice has real furniture and a glass window. She even has her own indoor bathroom, which is a big change from going to the bathroom outside. (Chapter 6)

2. Both the robe and the staff have blank spaces where Thomas and Kira will be expected to fill in depictions of the future. (Chapter 9)

3. Kira is sure that she heard some kind of beast stalking her on her way to Annabella’s. In addition, her father is supposed to have been killed by a beast, so if there are no beasts, she does not know how he died. (Chapter 11)

Chapters 12-14

Reading Check

1. The serenity sections (Chapter 12)

2. Jo (Chapter 13)

3. Jamison (Chapter 14)

Short Answer

1. They decide to investigate the sound of a child crying that Thomas has heard twice now. (Chapter 12)

2. She is skeptical that Annabella could remember complex information about plants and dyes if her mental abilities were declining. (Chapter 13)

3. Jo is similar to Kira because both have a seemingly magical artistic ability and some kind of foreknowledge of the future. (Chapter 14)

Chapters 15-17

Reading Check

1. A master key (Chapter 15)

2. The Singer’s robe (Chapter 16)

3. To find Kira some blue dye (Chapter 17)

Short Answer

1. She asks to be the one to sit with Annabella’s body in the Field. (Chapter 15)

2. They suggest that she signal them by knocking on her ceiling with her hairbrush. (Chapter 16)

3. She wonders if she and Thomas can use the blank spaces on the robe and the staff to depict a better kind of future. (Chapter 17)

Chapters 18-21

Reading Check

1. The Day of the Gathering (Chapter 18)

2. The Object (Chapter 19)

3. Jo (Chapter 20)

Short Answer

1. The Council intends for her to stay at the Edifice and continue working on the robe forever, and they have no intentions of letting her work on her own projects. (Chapter 18)

2. The people there had excess food and willingly shared it, whereas food is scarce and not willingly shared in Kira’s community. Also, Matt tells her that all of the people in the other village have a disability, whereas in Kira’s community, people with disabilities are exiled or killed. (Chapter 20)

3. Kira has realized that the Singer is a prisoner and that Jo is intended to share his miserable fate. (Chapter 21)

Chapters 22-23

Reading Check

1. Vandara (Chapter 22)

2. Shackles (Chapter 23)

3. Blue thread (Chapter 23)

Short Answer

1. He was attacked by men that he had gone hunting with, led by Jamison. When he was left in the Field to die, he was rescued and nursed back to health by people from the other village. (Chapter 22)

2. At first, he had amnesia from the blow to his head. After he recovered his memory, he was still blind and had no way to find his way back to their village. He also knew that, should he return, his blindness might make him a target for violence. (Chapter 22)

3. She realizes what Jo’s fate will be and decides that she wants to stay and try to unite with Jo and Thomas to rebel against the Council’s version of the future. (Chapter 23)