City of the Beasts

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-3

Reading Check

1. What is the only thing that John knows how to cook?

2. Besides the clothes he is wearing, what is the only thing John has left after Morgana steals from him?

3. What is the name of the magazine that is sending Kate to the Amazon to look for the Beast?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Alex feel about going to stay with Kate?

2. How does Alex respond when Kate does not pick him up at the airport?

3. When Alex arrives at Kate’s, what gift does she give him to replace something Morgana stole?

Paired Resource

“Mapinguari: Fearsome Beast and Protector of the Amazon”

• This 10-minute PBS video explains the legend of the Mapinguari, a beast believed to protect the Amazon rainforest from human threats.
• This resource relates to the theme of The Place of the Native Peoples and Natural Resources of the Amazon.
• What is the Mapinguari? What do some local peoples believe about its purpose? What evidence is there in City of the Beasts that tells you how similar to or different from the Mapinguari the Beast that Alex and Kate are going to find might be? If the Beast they are going to find is also interested in protecting the forest and the peoples living there, do you think Alex and Kate, as outsiders, might be in any danger?

Chapters 4-6

Reading Check

1. What is César Santos’s daughter’s name?

2. Who is the entrepreneur who persuaded International Geographic to send Kate to Brazil?

3. What kind of creature does Alex have a close encounter with in the forest at night in Chapter 6?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What surprises Alex about Manus?

2. What warning does Walimai give to César’s daughter when she and Alex meet him in the forest at night in Chapter 5?

3. In Chapter 6, when Alex and César’s daughter hear Mauro Carías and Captain Ariosto talking at night, what do they realize Carías and Ariosto’s plan is?

Paired Resource

“Brazilian Indians”

• This article from Survival International explains the threats to Brazil’s various Indigenous communities. (Note: This article features photographs of several Indigenous people, whose traditional dress differs from Western norms; you may wish to review this resource in advance to ensure the photos are appropriate for your school environment.)
• This resource relates to the theme of The Place of the Native Peoples and Natural Resources of the Amazon.
• How does the information in this article relate to the legend of the Mapinguari? How does it relate to the plan that Carías and Ariosto reveal in Chapter 6? Given the severity of the threats against Brazil’s Indigenous people, what do you think Alex should do with the information he has just learned?

Chapters 7-9

Reading Check

1. Where does Nadia say she gets her spiritual knowledge?

2. What mythical city does Kate tell Alex about as they enter Venezuela?

3. Whom does Nadia suspect of tampering with the group’s radio?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What reason does Santos give for killing the jaguar at Mauro Carías’s home?

2. What circumstances lead to Alex willingly trying an unusual new food near the end of Chapter 8?

3. When Alex is keeping watch in Chapter 9, what ability does he realize he has gained, and what about this ability feels familiar to him?

Paired Resource

“Eldorado”

• In this approachable poem, Edgar Allan Poe depicts a knight’s quest to find El Dorado.
• This resource relates to the themes of Surface Appearances Versus Inner Truth, The Place of the Native Peoples and Natural Resources of the Amazon, and Mindfulness.
• What are the religious and historical connotations of the word “pilgrim” used in the poem? What allusion in line 21 implies that the shade is pointing the knight toward death and the Christian afterlife? How does this poem underscore the concept that people often look in the wrong places for the kinds of satisfaction that really can only come from spirituality or similar inner resources? How is Alex discovering these kinds of inner resources? What did the historical searchers for El Dorado hope to steal from the Indigenous inhabitants of the Amazon? How would you compare Alex and Kate’s quest to the quest for El Dorado?

Chapters 10-12

Reading Check

1. What do the soldiers steal from the expedition at the beginning of Chapter 10?

2. What skill of Alex’s allows him to help Nadia at the beginning of Chapter 11?

3. Who is chosen to be the next leader of the People of the Mist?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Alex and Nadia’s second encounter with the People of the Mist turn out very differently from their first encounter?

2. What earlier event does Alex recall when he first sees the home of the People of the Mist?

3. When Nadia and Alex take ayahuasca, what does Nadia have a vision of?

Paired Resource

“The Uncontacted Frontier”

• This article from Survival International describes the variety of uncontacted and isolated peoples living in the Amazon and details some of the threats that they face. (Note: This article features photographs and embedded video of Indigenous people, whose traditional dress differs from Western norms; you may wish to review this resource in advance to ensure the material is appropriate for your school environment.)
• This resource relates to the theme of The Place of the Native Peoples and Natural Resources of the Amazon.
• Were you surprised to learn how many groups live uncontacted or in isolation in this region of the world? What threats to their survival does the article describe? How does this relate to the situation of the People of the Mist? What do you think the People of the Mist can do to improve their odds of survival? Do you think that physical survival is the most important goal from their perspective? What evidence in the text supports your answer?

Chapters 13-16

Reading Check

1. What does Walimai suggest Alex might be able to find in order to help his mother?

2. What kind of creature does the Beast resemble?

3. What does the water in the lake and the river near where Alex has the vision of Cecilia remind Alex of?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. When Alex first sees the valley, what city does he think he sees, and how does his understanding change as he draws closer?

2. What mutually beneficial arrangement do the People of the Mist have with the creatures they see as gods?

3. How does Nadia’s quest to retrieve the crystal eggs demonstrate that she is willing to confront her own fears?

Paired Resource

“The Neuroscience of Mindfulness and Fear with Tara Brach, Ph.D.” and “Box Breathing Relaxation Technique: How to Calm Feelings of Stress or Anxiety”

• The first resource is a 4-minute video from The National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine explaining the neurobiological basis of how mindfulness combats fear and anxiety.
• The second resource is a 3-minute introduction to a mindfulness breathing technique from Sunnybrook Hospital.
• These resources relate to the theme of Mindfulness.
• According to these videos, what are the benefits of using a mindfulness breathing technique like the box breathing technique? How do Alex and Nadia use mindfulness techniques to calm their fears when they are searching for the crystal eggs and the water of health? What are some situations in ordinary life where this technique might be helpful?

Chapters 17-20

Reading Check

1. What gift does Alex give Walimai at the beginning of Chapter 17, before Walimai leaves the village?

2. Whom does Nadia send into the jungle to get help after Alex is tied up away from the others?

3. What do Nadia’s crystal eggs turn out to be?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. In Chapter 17, what causes Alex and Nadia to realize that the vaccines are dangerous?

2. What surprising revelation does Karakawe make at the beginning of Chapter 18?

3. What does Alex persuade Kate to write about in her article?\

Recommended Next Reads 

Kingdom of the Golden Dragon by Isabel Allende

• In this sequel to City of the Beasts, Alex, Kate, and Nadia are on another quest—this time to find the Himalayas’s legendary Golden Dragon.
• Shared themes include Surface Appearances Versus Inner Truth and Mindfulness.
• Shared topics include adventure, coming of age, journeys, adapting to new environments, family relationships, legendary creatures, magical realism, justice for Indigenous cultures, and respect for the natural world.

Amazona by Canizales

• This YA graphic novel features the desperate attempt of Andrea, a young, displaced Indigenous woman, to return to her rainforest home to bury her infant daughter and gather evidence against the mining company that has displaced her community.
• A shared theme includes The Place of the Native Peoples and Natural Resources of the Amazon.
• Shared topics include adventure, journeys, adapting to new environments, family relationships, justice for Indigenous cultures, and respect for the natural world.

American Street by Ibi Zoboi

• In this YA novel, teenager Fabiola is separated from her mother when entering the United States from Haiti and ends up having to stay with extended family in Detroit, where she relies on her Vodun faith as she struggles to adjust and battles to get her mother released from detention.
• A shared theme includes Surface Appearances Versus Inner Truth.
• Shared topics include coming of age, journeys, adapting to new environments, family relationships, marginalization, and magical realism.
• American Street on SuperSummary