About a Boy

Chapters 1-14

Reading Check

1. Angie (Chapter 4)

2. He starts singing aloud. (Chapter 3)

3. Fiona starts crying in the mornings and talking about how she is tired of life. (Chapter 5)

4. “Single Parents Alone Together” (Chapter 6)

5. He hopes they will get together and move in together. (Chapter 13)

Short Answer

1. Will denies their request to be their child’s godfather because he feels comfortable in his life without having responsibilities and commitments. (Chapter 2)

2. Marcus blames his mother’s refusal to let him be part of 1990s youth culture for the fact that he is bullied at school. (Chapter 3)

3. After Angie breaks up with Will, he believes he can date single mothers and enjoy their company without ever worrying about needing to commit to them. It also makes him feel needed and useful. (Chapter 4)

4. They find that Fiona has overdosed and is lying unconscious on the living room floor. The event inspires Will to want to help Marcus and Fiona, something he has rarely thought to do before, and it inspires Marcus to seek out a partner for his mother. (Various chapters)

5. Will feels completely turned off by the idea of single mothers and what he sees as a “dramatic,” needlessly “depressing” way of life. (Chapter 14)

Chapters 15-25

Reading Check

1. Fiona assumes that Will must be a pedophile or is somehow interfering with her son. (Chapter 17)

2. They both have/had substance use problems that affect their children. (Chapter 18)

3. Marcus views Will as a father figure. (Chapter 17)

4. Ellie (Chapter 19)

5. Suzie arrives and is still angry with him. (Chapter 23)

Short Answer

1. Will buys Marcus a pair of brand-new shoes to stop the other children from teasing him. It backfires; they steal his new shoes. (Chapter 16)

2. Fiona starts to recognize that Marcus needs Will and it is too late for Will to simply vanish from Marcus’s life. (Chapter 18)

3. Ellie decides that she likes Marcus because of his humor and his willingness to learn. (Various chapters)

4. Will decides to lie by omission by allowing Rachel to believe that Marcus is his son. (Chapter 24)

5. Ellie believes that Fiona should not have to live if she does not want to and that forcing her to stay alive is an act of anti-feminism. (Chapter 25)

Chapters 26-36

Reading Check

1. Being Will’s son (Chapter 26)

2. Kurt Cobain’s death (Chapter 31)

3. He knows he is capable of finding added support. (Chapter 35)

4. Marcus did not do anything wrong. (Chapter 34)

5. Ali (Chapter 36)

Short Answer

1. She defends him against bullies and beats them up. (Chapter 27)

2. She is not surprised and feels that Will’s relationship with Marcus is meaningful anyway. (Chapter 28)

3. It reminds Marcus of his mother’s depression and suicide attempt, and it seems like Ellie is being insensitive. (Chapter 29)

4. Fiona admits that she sometimes hates Marcus and never wanted to be a mother. (Chapter 32)

5. Will decides that he wants to marry Rachel, and Marcus decides to just be friends with Ellie because they are too different from one another. (Various chapters)