The Adoration of Jenna Fox

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

Section 1

Reading Check

1. Why has Jenna lost some of her motor function and her memory?

2. How does Jenna’s mother attempt to spark her memory?

3. Where did Jenna’s family move from?

Short Answer

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

1. What is unusual about Jenna’s relationship with her grandmother, Lily?

2. What is unusual about the way Jenna speaks?

Sections 2-3

Reading Check

1. What is unusual about Jenna’s behavior when she meets Mr. Bender?

2. How does Jenna’s first memory return?

3. What is unusual about the scar on Jenna’s chin?

4. What is concerning to Jenna when she is told to go to her room?

Short Answer

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

1. Why is there a strain between Jenna and her grandmother?

2. Describe the quarrel between Jenna and her mother. What caused it?

Paired Resource

Genetic Engineering and Crops

• This 10-minute video describes the pros and cons of genetic engineering on crops.
• How do people use genetic engineering today? What concerns does genetic engineering raise? How is genetic engineering of plants connected to the death of Lily’s grandfather? How is genetic engineering related to the book’s theme of Choices (Can vs. Should)?

Sections 4-6

Reading Check

1. What did Mr. Bender discover when he searched for Jenna on the internet?

2. What do Jenna’s classmates warn her about?

3. Why does Jenna feel that something about her body is not quite right?

Short Answer

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

1. What book is Jenna able to quote word for word? How is this book connected to the theme of Nature, Man’s Relationship with Nature, and Survival?

2. What does Ethan tell Jenna that she most wants to hear? Why does Jenna want so desperately to hear this?

Paired Resource

“Walden”

• This encyclopedia article discusses Walden and its influence on society, provides a brief overview of the book, and describes Thoreau’s experience while writing it.
• Describe Walden and why it was written. How does Thoreau believe people should live? How is Walden connected to the theme of Nature, Man’s Relationship with Nature, and Survival?

Sections 7-9

Reading Check

1. What is the Federal Science Ethics Board (FSEB)?

2. How much of Jenna’s body is original?

3. Why did Jenna’s family move to California?

Short Answer

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

1. What is revealed about Lily and her seeming dislike of Jenna? Why is Lily upset by Jenna’s survival?

2. Both Ethan and Dane have warned Jenna to stay away from the other. Has either boy given Jenna a reason to avoid him? Why or why not?

Paired Resource

“Will Your Uploaded Mind Still Be You?”

• This article describes the possibilities of brain uploading and its potential in the distant future.
• What would be some benefits of brain uploading? What are some possible complications? How is mind uploading connected to the theme of Nature, Man’s Relationship with Nature, and Survival?

Sections 10-12

Reading Check

1. Why is Jenna unable to refuse to go to her room after her parents ask her to?

2. What does Jenna discover on Mr. Bender’s computer?

3. Why has Jenna been programmed not to say the word accident?

Short Answer

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

1. Jenna feels that neither her body nor her mind is hers. Why does she feel this way? Is Jenna justified her feelings?

2. What forms of “for your own good” control have Jenna’s parents enforced on her?

Sections 13-15

Reading Check

1. Why does Jenna think her friends have been calling out to her?

2. Why is Mr. Bender important to Jenna?

3. Who attacked Jenna on her way to Mr. Bender’s house?

4.     Who was driving when Jenna and her friends had their accident?

Short Answer

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

1. Jenna has criticized her parents for the choice they made to keep her alive, because only a small fragment of who she was remains. How does Jenna’s perspective on keeping her friends’ consciousness “alive” compare to her parents’ perspective? Why might Jenna need Locke and Kara? How does this relate to the novel’s theme of Choices (Can vs. Should)?

2. Why is Jenna concerned when Allys doesn’t return to school for two days? Why does Allys have a bias against Bio Gel?

Paired Resource

The Overuse of Antibiotics

• This article describes the danger of antimicrobial resistance and the steps taken by medical professionals to prevent it.
• What are the dangers of antibiotic overuse? What steps are being taken to prevent overuse of antibiotics? How is this related to the novel’s theme of Nature, Man’s Relationship with Nature, and Survival?

Sections 16-18

Reading Check

1. Why has Allys been absent from school?

2. Why does Ethan want to hide Jenna?

3. Why do Allys’s parents come to Jenna’s house?

4. What is the Jenna Standard?

Short Answer

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

1. What is ironic about Allys’s support of FSEB?

2. How does the birth of Jenna’s own child help her understand her parents’ choices? How is this connected to the novel’s theme of Parent-Child Relationships?

Recommended Next Reads

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

• In this dystopian novel, teens are set to be “unwound” or dismembered for their body parts as solution to unwanted teens.
• Shared topics include growth, identity, and friendship.
• Shared themes include Choices (Can vs. Should), Parent-Child Relationships, and Nature, Man’s Relationship with Nature, and Survival.
• Unwind on SuperSummary

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

• This novel is about a boy in a postapocalyptic world who wakes in a maze to discover he has lost his identity and begins a quest to solve the maze.
• Shared topics include identity, friendship, trust, and growth.
• Shared themes include Choices (Can vs. Should) and Nature, Man’s Relationship with Nature, and Survival.
• The Maze Runner on SuperSummary