89 pages • 2 hours read
The Hidden Oracle
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During Reading
Reading Questions & Paired Texts
Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.
CHAPTERS 1-4
Reading Check
1. What is the name of the teenager that Apollo has been transformed into?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. To whom does Apollo hope to offer his services on earth, and whom does he end up serving instead?
2. What help does Percy offer Apollo, and why does he say he cannot offer anything more?
CHAPTERS 5-8
Reading Check
1. Who accidentally runs through one of the nosoi and gets infected?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How do Percy, Apollo, and Meg end up in a car accident?
2. Where does the karpos “Peaches” come from?
Paired Resource
- This National Geographic Kids article briefly discusses some scientific approaches to increasing human longevity.
- This resource relates to the theme of Immortality Versus Mortality.
- According to this article, how likely is it that humans will someday be immortal? Would you be willing to have your mind transferred into a computer in order to “live” forever? Apollo mentions that the gods are amazed at the ways human beings fill their lives with meaning despite knowing they will someday die. Do you think that human lives would be more or less filled with meaning if we someday discover a way to become immortal? What do you predict Apollo will learn about living a meaningful life from his experience of being human?
CHAPTERS 9-12
Reading Check
1. What do all of the people in Apollo’s cabin at Camp Half-Blood have in common?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What concern of Apollo’s is relieved when he sees Camp Half-Blood from the hilltop?
2. What problems at Camp Half-Blood does Chiron tell Apollo about?
CHAPTERS 13-16
Reading Check
1. In Apollo’s second vision of the crowned woman, what task does she ask him to accomplish?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. According to Apollo, why is it impossible to map the labyrinth?
2. After attempting to shoot a bow in an archery lesson, what oath does Apollo swear on the River Styx?
Paired Resources
“Pythia and the Oracle at Delphi”
- This article offers information about the Delphic Oracle.
- This resource relates to the theme of The Power of Communication.
- Now that you know more about the Delphic Oracle, why do you think the oracle is so important to the characters in this book? What motif related to communication does the missing oracle support? Which other details are a part of this pattern?
“A Day in the Life of the Oracle of Delphi”
- This 5-minute TED-Ed video focuses on an oracle-in-training to show what the daily life of the Pythia might have been like.
- This resource relates to the theme of The Power of Communication.
- Based on this video, do you think that you would enjoy being the Pythia and interpreting Apollo’s messages? What beliefs did the Ancient Greeks hold that might make this position appealing to them? Do you think that characters in Riordan’s book, set in our own time, also think that the oracles are important? Why or why not?
CHAPTERS 17-20
Reading Check
1. How does Apollo recognize the Beast’s voice?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why does Meg insist on going down the tunnel that smells like sulfur?
2. How does Apollo find his attitude about his children changing since being changed into mortal form?
CHAPTERS 21-24
Reading Check
1. Whom does Apollo believe the crowned woman in his dreams to be?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why does Pete dislike the Grove of Dodona so much?
2. How does Apollo break one of the oaths that he swore on the River Styx?
Paired Resource
- This Russell Thornton poem explores the impact of a father’s abandonment on the speaker.
- This resource relates to the theme of Intergenerational Trauma: The Father-Child Relationship.
- In Thornton’s poem, what does the speaker mean in Line 6 when he discusses “the spaces he has made within us”? What does the father do after he brings home the new beds for his children? How do his actions impact the poem’s speaker? What does Apollo seem to be learning, in this section of the story, about his own role as a father? Do you think that Zeus’s treatment of Apollo impacts Apollo’s own understanding of how to be a father?
CHAPTERS 25-28
Reading Check
1. How does Apollo mesmerize the myrmeke when he first enters their lair to rescue Meg?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What does Rhea tell Apollo about the leader of the triumvirate?
2. Why doesn’t Apollo kill the queen ant?
CHAPTERS 29-32
Reading Check
1. Who knocks the match from Nero’s hand when he is about to burn the grove?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What does Apollo figure out after seeing the tattoos on Vince’s and Gary’s arms?
2. Why does Meg not fully understand what “the Beast” is?
Paired Resources
“Digital Immortality: How Technology Will Bring Loved Ones Back to Life”
- This NBC News article describes experiments in using technology to preserve the memory of loved ones.
- This resource relates to the themes of The Power of Communication and Immortality Versus Mortality.
- How does the technology profiled in this article use communication to create a kind of immortality? How does this compare to the kind of immortality that Nero achieves?
- One of Shakespeare’s most famous sonnets, Sonnet 18 assures the speaker’s audience that, unlike a summer’s day, their youth and beauty will be immortal.
- This resource relates to the themes of The Power of Communication and Immortality Versus Mortality.
- What complaint does the speaker have about summer? What might this complaint symbolize regarding human life? How does the speaker suggest the audience being addressed will become immortal? Do you think Apollo would be satisfied with this form of immortality? Why or why not? How does this form of immortality compare to Nero’s immortality?
CHAPTERS 33-36
Reading Check
1. Which creatures that Apollo recently fought come to the aid of Camp Half-Blood?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What is Nero’s plan to destroy Camp Half-Blood?
2. What plan of Apollo’s must change because of a talking arrow?
CHAPTERS 37-39
Reading Check
1. Whose bow does Apollo use to shoot the enchanted arrow at the Colossus?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What unintended consequence happens at Camp Half-Blood as a result of the way Apollo defeats the Colossus?
2. What theory about the next oracle’s location do Percy and Chiron share with Apollo?
Recommended Next Reads
The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan
- The second book in Riordan’s The Trials of Apollo series, this sequel to The Hidden Oracle follows Apollo and his companions as they cross America in search of the next oracle.
- Shared themes include The Power of Communication and Immortality Versus Mortality.
- Shared elements include adventure, pastiche, Greek and Roman myths and history, gods in human form, teamwork, and friendship.
- The Dark Prophecy on SuperSummary
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
- The first book in Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, The Lightning Thief tells the story of Percy Jackson, a 12-year-old demigod who undertakes a dangerous cross-country journey to find Zeus’s lightning bolt.
- Shared themes include Intergenerational Trauma: The Father-Child Relationship and Immortality Versus Mortality.
- Shared elements include the fish-out-of-water story, adventure, pastiche, Greek and Roman myths and history, teamwork, and friendship.
- The Lightning Thief on SuperSummary
Reading Questions Answer Key
CHAPTERS 1-4
Reading Check
1. Lester Papadopoulos (Chapter 1)
Short Answer
1. Apollo hopes to offer his services to his friend, the demigod Percy Jackson, but instead, Meg McCaffrey claims his services. (Chapter 2)
2. Percy offers to drive Meg and Apollo to Camp Half-Blood, but forewarns them that he cannot offer additional help; he has promised his girlfriend that he will not get involved in any more quests for a while so that he can catch up on his classwork and join her in college. (Chapter 4)
CHAPTERS 5-8
Reading Check
1. Percy (Chapter 7)
Short Answer
1. One of the spirits that was following Meg appears in the road in front of Percy’s car, and when he swerves to miss it, he crashes into a peach orchard. (Chapter 6)
2. Peaches fly from the trees in the orchard and fuse together to form the karpos, seemingly in reaction to Meg being angry and in danger. (Chapter 8)
CHAPTERS 9-12
Reading Check
1. All of the people in Apollo’s cabin are his children. (Chapter 10)
Short Answer
1. Apollo was worried that in his human form he would be prevented from seeing and entering Camp Half-Blood. (Chapter 9)
2. Chiron tells Apollo that phones and the internet are not working, the oracle has disappeared, and now residents of Camp Half-Blood are disappearing as well. (Chapter 11)
CHAPTERS 13-16
Reading Check
1. To find the gates (Chapter 14)
Short Answer
1. Created by skilled inventor Daedalus to keep the monstrous Minotaur imprisoned, the maze is sentient, constantly expanding itself to better trap those within it. (Chapter 13)
2. Apollo swears he will never again use a bow or play music while he is in mortal form. (Chapter 15)
CHAPTERS 17-20
Reading Check
1. Apollo recognizes the voice from his dream. (Chapter 18)
Short Answer
1. Meg is sure that she can see and smell a golden apple, and they must gather golden apples to win the game. (Chapter 17)
2. Now that he is mortal, Apollo is developing a more human-like conscience. This makes him feel more responsible for his children’s welfare. (Chapter 19)
CHAPTERS 21-24
Reading Check
1. Rhea (Chapter 21)
Short Answer
1. Pete blames the grove for the disappearance of his partner, Paulie, since Paulie has not been seen since he departed on a quest to try to convince the grove to relocate somewhere other than the camp’s woods. (Chapter 23)
2. When Apollo and Meg are attacked by the giant ants, Apollo plays the combat ukulele that Will gave him. (Chapter 24)
CHAPTERS 25-28
Reading Check
1. By singing (Chapter 27)
Short Answer
1. Their leader is Nero, a Roman Emperor whose notoriety for great evil and whose impact on history has kept him alive in human memory and created a kind of immortality for him. (Chapter 26)
2. The queen ant is in the process of laying eggs, and Meg does not want her to die while this is happening; Meg suggests that she and Apollo simply try to slip past the queen into the tunnel that leads to the grove. (Chapter 28)
CHAPTERS 29-32
Reading Check
1. Peaches (Chapter 32)
Short Answer
1. Apollo realizes that he has seen these snake tattoos before: on the arms of Cade and Mikey, who attacked him after he first fell to earth. This tells him that Cade and Mikey were working for Nero. (Chapter 29)
2. Meg keeps herself from understanding that “the Beast” is not a separate entity from Nero, that it is just Nero himself; Nero has been her “protector” in the wake of her father’s murder, and she is comfortable in her role in his household. (Chapter 30)
CHAPTERS 33-36
Reading Check
1. The queen and soldier ants (Mama and her soldiers) (Chapter 35)
Short Answer
1. Nero has animated the statue of himself as Apollo, the Colossus Neronis, and sent it to destroy the camp. Because the Athena Parthenos in the camp might be able to defeat Nero’s statue, Nero has ensured that most of Athena’s followers are away from camp when he sends his statue to destroy it. (Chapter 34)
2. At first, Apollo plans to enchant the oak arrow from the grove with a disease and shoot it into the Colossus’s ear, but the arrow tells him he cannot carry out this plan and that he should use the bronze arrows instead. (Chapter 36)
CHAPTERS 37-39
Reading Check
1. Chiron’s (Chapter 37)
Short Answer
1. The plague that Apollo used to enchant the arrow spreads to the residents of Camp Half-Blood. (Chapter 38)
2. Percy and Chiron believe that the three emperors have divided up the country into three parts and that the second emperor will have taken the next oracle into the mid-section of the country, the territory he controls. (Chapter 39)
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