69 pages • 2 hours read
Karen M. McManusTwo Can Keep a Secret
Karen M. McManusFiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
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 1-9
Reading Check
1. Why do Ellery and Ezra go stay with their Nana?
2. Who is found dead by the road?
3. What does Malcolm discover at the gallery?
4. With whom does Ezra immediately want to be friends at school?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How does Ellery feel about true crime? )
2. What do Malcolm and Mia find at the cemetery, and what are the implications?
3. What type of relationship do Declan and Malcolm have at this point?
4. How does Nana’s offer to help Ellery and Ezra with college affect Ellery?
5. How does Ellery react to being on the homecoming court?
Paired Resource
“True Crime: Why We’re Fascinated by Crime (Introduction)”
- The Boston Globe discusses people’s interest in crime, with Kathryn Casey offering her perspective. (Please note that the 16 cases that follow the introduction contain mature content, violence, and other potentially sensitive topics.)
- These ideas connect to the theme The Lingering Effects of Violence.
- How does the resource connect to Ellery’s interest in true crime?
CHAPTERS 10-19
Reading Check
1. Why do the twins go to the library to look at yearbooks?
2. What flashes on the screen at the pep assembly?
3. Who tells the authorities Malcolm was the last person to see Brooke before she disappeared?
4. What information does Malcolm keep from Officer McNulty?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why does Ellery suspect Ryan Rodriguez?
2. What events lead to Malcolm being the last to see Brooke before she disappears?
3. How does being questioned by the police hold layers of meaning for Malcolm?
4. How do Ezra and Ellery differ in their reactions to Brooke’s disappearance?
Paired Resource
- Adrienne Su’s poem explores the vast shifts in adolescence.
- Theme connection includes The Dichotomy Between High School and the Adult World.
- How do the high school scenes in the novel present adolescence?
CHAPTERS 20-27
Reading Check
1. When Mia, Ellery, Malcolm, and Ezra follow Daisy a second time, where does she go?
2. Who is quoted in the Boston Globe article?
3. Why do Malcolm and Ellery decide to go to Homecoming after all?
4. Who is the second person to deny Sadie’s story that Officer Rodriguez got extremely upset at Lacey’s funeral?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How is Brooke’s disappearance affecting the town?
2. What brings Sadie and Ellery closer and why?
3. Why does Daisy feel guilty?
4. When Malcolm, Mia, Ellery, and Ezra find the receipt in the recycling at work, what does it lead them to believe? What is their rationale?
Paired Resource
“The Toll of America's Gun Violence Epidemic”
- NPR’s interview exploring studies on gun violence is presented in written and audio forms.
- This information connects to the theme The Lingering Effects of Violence.
- How has violence affected various characters in the novel?
“When Do Your Secrets Hurt Your Well-Being?”
- This article from Greater Good Magazine examines some reasons people keep secrets and offers guidelines regarding when to confess.
- This information connects to the theme The Need to Confess Secrets.
- What secrets have characters kept and revealed so far?
CHAPTERS 28-38
Reading Check
1. Who helps Malcolm when two classmates attack him outside school?
2. What news about Brooke intensifies the characters’ fear?
3. Who saves Ellery and Malcolm?
4. What does Peter tell Ellery in the basement?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How do Ellery and Ezra discover the identity of their father?
2. What clues lead to Malcolm and Ellery realizing Peter’s guilt?
3. Why is Ellery keeping what Peter said about his murderous intentions secret?
Recommended Next Reads
I'll Never Tell by Abigail Haas
- When Anna’s best friend is murdered on their spring break trip, the authorities begin to suspect Anna. she becomes determined to unravel what really happened.
- Shared themes include The Lingering Effects of Violence and The Need to Confess Secrets.
- Shared topics include friendship, murder, investigations, mystery, true crime, and new locations.
One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus
- Five students enter detention, but only four survive. The students, school, and community face the fallout.
- Shared themes include The Lingering Effects of Violence and The Need to Confess Secrets.
- Shared topics include high school, murder, mystery, investigations, family, and new relationships.
- One of Us is Lying on SuperSummary
Reading Questions Answer Key
CHAPTERS 1-9
Reading Check
1. Ellery and Ezra’s mother is sent to a court-appointed rehabilitation program after a car crash while under the influence of opioids. (Chapter 1)
2. Mr. Bowman, a teacher (Chapter 1-2)
3. Threatening graffiti that indicates more murders will ensue (Chapter 3)
4. Mia (Chapter 6)
Short Answer
1. Ellery is extremely interested in true crime. She attributes this to her aunt Sarah, her mother’s twin, going missing years ago. (Chapters 1-9)
2. Malcolm and Mia find three dolls hanging and another written threat towards the homecoming court. Malcolm and Mia believe that those nominated for homecoming queen are targets. Because Malcolm’s brother was previously a murder suspect in the strangulation death of Lacey Kilduff, Malcolm is nervous to interact with the police. (Chapter 5)
3. Declan and Malcolm are brothers who are not close now and have not been in the past. Declan moved away a while ago. The brothers fight when they do talk. Declan has some suspicions that his brother is guilty but also feels compassion toward him. (Chapters 3-9)
4. Ellery has not really considered college. knowing she could not afford it. When Nana offers to help, it shifts Ellery’s ideas about the future and opens her mind to a new, more complex relationship with Nana. (Chapter 8)
5. Ellery is shocked because she has just moved to town and knows very few people. She believes someone interfered with the votes. (Chapter 9)
CHAPTERS 10-19
Reading Check
1. To search for anything suspicious (Chapter 10)
2. Photographs of Lacey and the current homecoming queen nominees (Brooke, Katrin, and Ellery) ripped in half (Chapter 13)
3. Malcolm, Ellery, and Ezra (Chapters 15-18)
4. Malcolm does not reveal that Declan is in town. (Chapter 18)
Short Answer
1. Ellery saw Officer Rodriguez previously acting nervous. Then, Ellery sees a yearbook picture of him gazing at Lacey as if he loves her. (Chapters 10-19)
2. Malcolm arrives at the park to pick up Ellery and Ezra from work, as Nana does not want them walking home in the dark with all the potential danger in the town. They see Brooke, who is drunk, so Malcolm offers to drive her home too. (Chapters 14-15)
3. Malcolm is nervous over the present events, in which he is the one who finds multiple acts of vandalism and is the last one to see Brooke before she disappears. He knows he is a suspect. He also lived a similar experience from a different perspective years ago, watching his brother face being a suspect. (Chapters 10-19)
4. Ezra assumes Malcolm is innocent and tries to remind his sister they can trust their friend. With her interest in crime, however, Ellery views everyone as a suspect; consequently, Ellery considers that Malcolm might be guilty. (Chapters 15-19)
CHAPTERS 20-27
Reading Check
1. To see Duncan (Chapter 20)
2. Viv (Chapter 21)
3. Malcolm and Ellery want to watch Katrin because they are suspicious of her. (Chapter 26)
4. Daisy (Chapter 27)
Short Answer
1. People are glued to the news and very nervous; residents discouraging others from going out alone. The town is also organizing search parties. (Chapters 20-27)
2. Ellery confronts Sadie about her secrets and shortcomings. Sharing brings some catharsis. It also leads to Sadie revealing her guilt over having a sexual encounter as her sister went missing. (Chapter 22)
3. Daisy was Lacey’s friend, but she had feelings toward Declan, Lacey’s boyfriend. Daisy also thinks she should have helped the investigation more and told authorities about a bracelet she noticed that Lacey was secretive about. (Chapter 24)
4. Malcolm, Mia, Ellery, and Ezra find a receipt for car repairs in the recycling. Brooke was trying to break into the recycling before her disappearance. The car on the receipt matches Katrin’s car, and the time is around the time of the death of Mr. Bowman, leading them to think Katrin and Brooke were involved in the hit and run. (Chapter 25)
CHAPTERS 28-38
Reading Check
1. Declan (Chapter 31)
2. Her body is found. (Chapters 30-31)
3. Ryan Rodriguez (Chapters 35-36)
4. When he killed Sarah, Peter was trying to kill Sadie. (Chapter 38)
Short Answer
1. When visiting Ryan’s home, they see a picture of his father as a young man, and it looks like Ezra. Ryan says he realized they were his half-siblings when he saw them. (Chapter 28)
2. Malcolm and Ellery learn Katrin was not in town at the time of the crash, so Peter was the only one with access to the car. They check his alibi by calling the friend he said he met that weekend; they learn he was lying. (Chapter 34)
3. Ellery knows her mother feels guilt about her sister Sarah’s disappearance already. Sadie is on the path to recovery from opioids. Ellery is protecting her mother. (Chapter 38)
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