The Other Wes Moore

The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore

Introduction

A. Which prestigious award did Wes Moore, the author, receive in late 2000? Using context clues, what do you believe “prestigious” means? (xi)

B. Based on context clues, what do you believe “heinous” means? (xiii)

C. What do each of the eight chapters correspond with? What do the three parts represent? (xiv)

Part 1: Father’s and Angels

1. What religious faith has the imprisoned Wes Moore adopted since being incarcerated? (3)

Is Daddy Coming with Us? (1982) (Part 1)

2. On what border, did Wes Moore’s (the author) house sit? (7)

3. Who was Wes’s sister, Nikki, named after? (7)

4. Why did Wes’s mother leave her first husband? (10)

5. How did Wes’s mother meet his father? (12)

6. What does Wes say to his father as he is lying in the casket? (16)

(More on Back)

Is Daddy Coming with Us? (1982) (Part 2)

7. Why is Wes’s (“the other Wes”) mother crying? (17)

8. Whose assassination caused Baltimore to “burn” in the 1960s? (18)

9. Who was “Little” Melvin Williams? What was he recruited by the mayor to help do? (19)

10. How did Wes’s Mother Mary, meet his father? In what year was Wes born? (23)

11. Who is sitting on the couch when Wes gets to his grandmother’s? (26)

Exit Slip: What other factors do you think contributed to the riots in Baltimore during the 1960’s?

 Part 2: In Search of Home (1984) (Part 1) (2 points each)

12. Who was (the other) Wes’s closest thing to a primary caretaker growing up? (26)

13. What was the name of Wes’s recreational football team? What position did he play? (29)

14. Why would Wes become jealous of Woody? (30)

15. What does Wes grab from the house after being punched by the smaller boy? (33)

16. How old is Wes when he is arrested? Why is Woody arrested as well? (35)

Part 2: In Search of Home (1984) (Part 2)

17. Why does Wes’s mother sleep on the couch? (36)

18. What does Wes’s mother use the money from the wrongful death suit to do? (36)

19. Where does Wes’s mom decide to move the family? (37)

20. What did President Jimmy Carter describe the Bronx as in 1977? (38)

21. Where does Wes meet most of the guys from his neighborhood in the Bronx? (44-45)

Exit Slip: Do you think it was a wise move for Wes’s mother to move the family to the Bronx? Why? Explain.

Part 3: Foreign Ground (1987) (Part 1)

22. Where does Wes’s mother send him to school in the Bronx? What former U.S. President attended the school? (48)

23. How long would it take for Wes and Justin to get to school? (49)

24. How many homicides were there in New York in 2008? How many were there in 1990? (51)

25. Where does Wes’s mother threaten to send him if his grades do not improve? (55)

Exit Slip: Were you surprised there were more homicides in New York in 1990 rather than 2008? Why? Explain.

Part 3: Foreign Ground (1987) (Part 2)

26. Who was elected as the first African-American mayor of Baltimore City? (56)

27. What were the two incidents that made Mary decide to move? (57)

28. What does Wes find in his mother’s closet before he skips school to barbecue? (59)

31. What does Wes take a job doing? (62)

Exit Slip: Would you have moved if you were Mary? Why? Explain.

Part 4: Marking Territory (1990) (Part 1)

34. Where does Wes tell his brother he got the money for the Nikes from? (69)

35. What does Wes’s mom find under his mattress? What does she do with it? (73)

36. How much does Wes say the drugs were worth that Mary flushed? (74)

37. At what age is Wes’s mother about to become a grandma to Tony’s child? (75)

Exit Slip: Do you think Mary did the right thing when she flushed the drugs down the toilet? Why? Explain.

Part 4: Marking Territory (1990) (Part 2)

38. Which of Wes’s sister does he say was a “prodigy?” (77)

39. What position was Wes’s friend, Shea, filling for the drug dealers? (79)

40. Why are Wes and Shea picked up by the police? (81) 

41. What do the police decide to do with Wes and Shea? (85)

Exit Slip: Do you think that Wes's mother should send him to military school? Why? Explain.

Part 5: Lost (1991) (Part 1)

42. First Sgt. Anderson refers to a blanket as a “z monster.” What literary device is this an example of? (86)

43. What was the name of the military school that Wes was sent to? (89)

44. Who was a famous graduate of Wes’s military school? (90)

45. What does Wes realize about the map that he was given to get home? (93)

46. Who told Captain Hill to keep an eye on Wes? (97)

Part 5: Lost (1991) (Part 2)

47. What percentage of girls between 15 and 19 had given birth in Baltimore in 1991? (100)

48. Why does Wes start shooting at Ray? (104)

49. Where does Wes hide the gun? Who shows up at his house to take him away? (106)

Exit Slip: Do you think that it was right for Wes to shoot at Ray? Why? Explain. 

Part 6: Hunted (1994) (Part 1)

50. How much time did Wes spend in prison? What was he charged with? (110)

51. Out of 700,000 people in Baltimore, how many known addicts were there while Wes was selling drugs? (110-111)

52. How does Wes get arrested again? (114)

Exit Slip: Would you feel guilty selling drugs if you were Wes? Why or why not? Would you feel like you were damaging your own community? Why? Explain.

Part 6: Hunted (1994) (Part 2)

53. What disease does Wes’s friend, Justin’s mother have? (117)

54. What does Wes get hit in the face with by the racist teenagers in the car? (120-121)

55. What’s ironic about Wes running through the field to the campus for safety? (122)

Exit Slip: How would you have reacted to the teenagers in the car if you were Wes? Why? Explain.

Section 3: Paths Taken and Expectations Fulfilled

56. What is Wes the author shocked that Wes the inmate still won’t admit to? (125)

Part 7: The Land that God Forgot (1997) Part 1

57. Which paper ran a two-page article on Wes’s high school sports career? (130)

58. What book does Wes’s mother buy him? What is it about? (130)

59. What was the name of the book by Colin Powell that Wes related to so much?

60. According to Wes, what did the men he trusted the most all have in common? (132)

61. Why does Wes decide to stay at Valley Forge and attend its junior college? (133)

62. Wes says his reserve parachute was “strapped to my belly like a baby kangaroo.” What literary device is this an example of? (134)

63. Which military location earned the nickname, “the land that God forgot?” (135)

64. As Wes jumped out of the plane, there was “wind whipping” across his face. How is this an example of alliteration?

Exit Slip: How has Wes changed since going to military school?

Part 7: The Land that God Forgot (1997) (Part 2)

65. What drug has the mother of Wes’s third and fourth child started abusing? (137)

66. In what year was Job Corps created? What does GED stand for? (138)

67. How long did it take Wes to get his GED? What professional training does he choose to go into? (142)

68. What does Wes start cooking when he gets back to his apartment? (145)

Exit Slip: Do you think that it was a good idea for Wes to go to Job Corps? Why? Do you know anything about Job Corps? If so, what?

Part 8: Surrounded (2000) (Part 1)

69. Why did Sergeant Bruce Prothero have to pick up a second job? (147)

70. How much money worth of watches and jewels were stolen from the jewelry store? (147)

71. How many times is Sgt. Prothero shot? (148)

72. Where do Wes and his brother decide to hide out at?

73. What was found at the scene of the crime with Wes’s DNA on it? (156)

74. What is Wes found guilty of? (156)

Exit Slip: Do you think that Wes’s is guilty? Why or why not? Explain.

The Other Wes Moore

Part 8: Surrounded (2000) (Part 2)

75. What is the name of the mayor that Wes is interning for?

76. Where was Wes accepted to go to college to complete his undergraduate degree? (160)

77. Where is Wes studying a semester abroad after his internship? (163)

78. In what year was apartheid overturned in Africa? (164)

79. What is the Xhora word for “hello?” (166)

80. What was Wes the first to become at John Hopkins? (169)

Exit Slip: If you could study abroad anywhere in the world, where would you go? Why? Explain.

Epilogue:

81. Why did Wes initially start going to services before becoming a Muslim? (173)

82. How old was Wes when he became a grandfather?

83. How old was Tony when he died? (175)

84. Which secretary of state did Wes spend a year as special assistant to? (177)

85. What does Wes say his only wish is? (180)

Afterword:

86. What does Wes hope this book can provide young people with? (183)

A Call to Action:

87. Dr. Cornell West is quoted as saying, “our routes help to determine our routes.” What do you think he means by this?

88. Who wrote the section, “A Call to Action?” (186)

Exit Slip: Did you like this book? Why or why not? Out of five stars, how many stars would you give it? Why? Explain.