The Rock and The River

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

Chapters 1-2

Reading Check

1. What happens when Stick tries to intervene when he sees white men beating a Black protester?

2. What happens when Sam tries to purchase mittens for Maxie at the hospital gift shop?

3. What happens when the Childs family goes to church the day after the protest?

Short Answer

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

1. What different kinds of treatment does Stick receive at the hospital?

2. Why does the phone call from Dr. King’s wife upset the Childs family?

3. When Dr. King visited the Childs, why was Bucky’s literature about the Black Panthers inappropriate?

Paired Resources

General Introduction to Dr. King

• A biographical dictionary entry discussing Dr. King’s impact on the civil rights movement

“Black Power”

• This article from the Martin Luther King Jr. Research & Education Institute (Stanford University) explains the tension between Dr. King’s message and the “Black Power” message of the Black Panthers.

Chapters 3-4

Reading Check

1. To what career does Sam aspire?

2. Who provides the free lunch program at Sam’s school?

3. What does Sam witness when he stops at the auto shop where Bucky works?

Short Answer

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

1. Why does Sam think his brother lies about what he is given on the street?

2. Why do the white police officers beat Bucky?

3. Why do the Black Panthers stage a protest at the police station?

Paired Resource

“A Crisis Within a Crisis: Police Killings of Black Emerging Adults”

• This 2020 article, published by the Brookings Institution, shows how police violence disproportionately affects young Black men in the United States.
• How does this article relate to events in this part of the novel? How does it connect to the theme of The Persistence of Abuse by Authority?

Chapters 5-7

Reading Check

1. What does Sam do when he cannot sleep after the Black Panther protest?

2. What does Sam find in his block tower?

3. Why are the students sent home the April afternoon when Sam and Maxie watch the basketball practice?

Short Answer

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

1. Why do Stick and his father argue?

2. How does the shooting of Dr. King impact Sam’s neighborhood?

3. Why does Father tell Stick he cannot stay with the family?

Paired Resource

“The Black Panther Party Ten-Point Program”

• Stick and his father debate the ten-point reform program proposed by Black Panther activist Huey Newton. This primary source from 1966, at the Black Past website, summarizes the platform.
• What elements of the ten-point program might Father find problematic? How does the Black Panther document relate to the theme of Action Versus Inaction? How do various characters in the novel define action?

Chapters 8-9

Reading Check

1. Where does Sam go with Maxie when he sneaks out?

2. What does Sam’s father suggest Sam do instead of getting involved with the Black Panthers?

3. Why does Sam fight with Maxie?

Short Answer

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

1. How does Father react to Sam’s sneaking out?

2. How does Father counsel Sam to respond to racism?

3. How does Sam react to his fight with Maxie?

Paired Resource

“March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom”

• The National Park Service summarizes the purposes and planning of the 1963 March on Washington.
• How does the March on Washington differ from the strategies of the Black Panthers?

Chapters 10-11

Reading Check

1. What is different about Stick when he visits Sam during the night?

2. What does Stick ask for when he writes in his note, “I need it”?

3. What do Sam and Stick fight about?

Short Answer

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

1. How does Maxie help Sam understand the Black Panther cause?

2. Why won’t Sam give Stick the gun?

3. Why does Sam relent and try to make up with Maxie?

Paired Resource

“What Impact Did King’s Assassination Have on the Black Community?”

• This opinion piece assesses the various ways the assassination of Dr. King impacted young Black Americans in 1968 and beyond.
• Would Sam’s exploration into the Black Panther cause have happened without the catalyst of Dr. King’s assassination? How does the article connect to the theme of The Impact of Racism on Personal Development?

Chapters 12-14

Reading Check

1. How does Sam come to bring a gun to the demonstration for Bucky?

2. At whom does Sam point the gun?

3. What happens to the man who stabs Father at the demonstration?

Short Answer

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

1. Why does Stick say that Sam cannot help the Black Panthers?

2. How do Mama and Sam manage to get to the hospital?

3. How do the police impact the demonstration at the courthouse?

Paired Resource

“Black Panther Party’s Fight for Equality in the Civil Rights Era”

• This Tidings Media posting (2021) summarizes the message of the Black Panthers and shows how it impacted the civil rights movement after the shooting of Dr. King.
• Sam is torn between his father’s message and his brother’s cause. Why does Sam feel pulled to Stick’s argument and the approach of the Black Panthers? Based on the information in the article, would there have been a role for a young and naïve person like Sam in the Black Panthers movement?

Chapters 15-16

Reading Check

1. What do the Black Panthers ask Sam to do?

2. What does Father make Sam promise in return for testifying against the police?

3. What does Sam discover when he talks with the Black Panthers about his testimony?

Short Answer

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

1. What difference does Stick cite between his father’s message and the message of the Black Panthers?

2. Why does Stick say that Sam resists the Black Panthers?

Paired Resource

“Black Panthers”

• This article from History.com might help flesh out Stick’s argument about how his father avoids complexities that the Panthers do not.
• Is Stick correct when he tells Sam that the Black Panthers understand history in a way his father does not?

Chapters 17-19

Reading Check

1. What happens to allow the police to shoot at Raheem’s car?

2. Why doesn’t Sam help his brother after he has been shot by the police?

3. Where does Sam run after he finds out his brother is dead?

Short Answer

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

1. Why does Raheem say that what happened in the car was not entirely a surprise?

2. Why does Sam not cooperate with the police in his interrogation?

3. Why does Maxie trick Sam into coming to her house?

Paired Resource

“How Unjust Police Killings Damage the Mental Health of Black Americans”

• This Harvard Gazette article examines the psychological impact of police-involved shootings of young Black men, as revealed in a 2018 study.
• Sam knows the injustice of his brother’s killing. Is this why he destroys his block tower? Explain how the article helps inform your answer.

Chapters 20-21

Reading Check

1. What is Raheem’s plan in the aftermath of Stick’s death?

2. What does Raheem give to Sam during the funeral service for Stick?

3. What does Sam change his mind about while in the car with Raheem?

Short Answer

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

1. What does Sam’s brief monologue with his dead brother reveal about Sam’s emotional growth?

2. What does the parable of the rock and the river mean to Sam at the end of the story?

Paired Resource

“The Challenge of Change: Are You the River or the Rock?”

• A brief summary of the parable of the rock and the river will help students understand Sam’s closing epiphany.
• What does the parable show Sam about engaging with the world? How does the parable relate to Sam’s coming-of-age journey?

Recommended Next Reads

Blended by Sharon M. Draper

• A YA novel about a young Black girl, a promising musician, struggling to understand her blended family until a racial-profiling incident involving her brother reveals to her the reality of racism
• Shared topics include racism, white authority, and Black identity.
• Shared themes include The Persistence of Abuse by Authority.
• Blended on SuperSummary

The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore

• A study of two young Black men who share the same name. One ends up in prison while the other pursues a career in social activism, which highlights Sam’s dilemma.
• Shared themes include Action Versus Inaction and The Impact of Racism on Personal Development.
• The Other Wes Moore on SuperSummary