The Outcasts

By John Flanagan

Grades 6-9; Genre - Fiction; GRL Y; AR pts: 16.0

Hal has always been considered an outcast because of the lineage of his mother.  With a lot of hard work and ingenuity he proves himself a leader and true Skandian in brotherband training. 

Comprehension Questions

Chapter 1

1. What does Erak and his men do for a living?  They are raiders.  P. 5
2. Why did they sneak into Santa Sebilla? To steal gold   p. 6
3. Who followed Erak and his men back to the beach? Townspeople and riders who were not experienced warriors  p. 13
4. What hit Mikkel as the raiders were talking about the battle? Spear   p. 16

Chapter 2

1. When Mikkel died, who did he tell Thorn to take care of?  His son, Hal   p. 18
2. Why was Thorn wasting his life away by drinking? He lost his hand and couldn’t use weapons or an oar   p. 20
3. What did Karina want Thorn to help her with? Be her handyman and helper    p. 29

Chapter 3

1. What invention did Hal make for his mother’s kitchen? Cask and running water system  p. 35
2. What happened to the invention? It broke and flooded the kitchen   p. 37
3. How does Karina feel about Hal’s ideas and love for inventions? She doesn’t like them  p. 40

Chapter 4

1. What do Hal and Stig have in common? They both grew up without fathers   p. 42
2. Where was Hal going when he saw Stig at the cliff?  He was going fishing   p. 45
3. How did Stig and Hal become friends? Hal saved him from drowning   p. 53

Chapter 5

1. How did Hal get the Heron? He bought it from the boatyard he worked at  p. 58
2. What giant letter did the sails form? An M   p. 62
3. Why did Hal name his boat the Heron? That’s the sea bird that gave him the idea for the sail design   p. 62

Chapter 6

1. How did Hal feel when they took the Heron out to sea?  Excited/happy   p. 66
2. Did his M design on the sails work? Yes   p. 67
3. Was Hal able to tack his ship?  Yes  p. 70

Chapter 7

1. Where was Hal sailing the Heron? To the harbor   p. 75
2. Why did Hal slow the Heron down before they sailed into the harbor? So it didn’t hit the Oberjarl’s ship    p. 76
3. What will Erak do if Hal hits his ship? Cut off his head    p. 79

Chapter 8

1. Did the Heron hit Erak’s boat? No   p. 82
2. Who gathered on the beach watching the ship “fly in”? seaman, Erak and Thorn   p. 82
3. How did Erak feel about Stig standing up for Hal? He liked it and wanted to put them on the same team in brotherband training.   P. 88

Chapter 9

1. What was the name of the girl that Hal was interested in?  Lotte   p. 90
2. Who was mad at Hal for talking to Lotte?  Tursgud   p. 92
3. Who interrupted the fight between Hal and Tursgud?  Thorn   p. 93

Chapter 10

1. Why did Thorn visit Hal at the creek?  To show him to fight.   p. 97
2. Why did Thorn bring Hal a bag full of wool? So he could practice hitting.  p. 103
3. Why does Thorn think Tursgud fears Hal? He sees that Hal’s a leader.  He’s jealous.  P. 105

Chapter 11

1. How many ships were in Arndak’s fleet?  4  p. 107
2. Why didn’t Arndak want the pirate ship to get his ships? They had valuable goods and money  p. 109
3. How did Arndak know it was a pirate ship? It came really fast and had a battering ram  p.  110

Chapter 12

1. What was the pirate captain’s name? Zavac    p. 115
2. What information did Zavac want? He wanted to know about the Andomal   p. 118
3. Did Arndak tell him about the Andomal?  Yes   p. 119

Chapter 13

1. What is a brotherband?  A group of young men who are training to be warriors.      p. 123
2. Who was chosen to be brotherband leaders? Rollond, Tursgud, Hal   p. 129
3. How did Hal feel when Stig nominated him? Not happy  p. 130

Chapter 14

1. What did Stig say when Rollond chose him to be in his brotherband? No, I pass    p. 137
2. Why did Erak not let Hal be on Tursgud team when he chose him? Erak knew Tursgud would bully Hal    p. 137
3. What animal did Hal’s brotherband choose as their symbol?  A heron   p. 133

Chapter 15

1. What was brotherband’s first task? To build a shelter   p.  144
2. Who did the Heron’s choose as their leader? Hal p. 145
3. Who watched the Heron brotherband from the trees? Erak and Sigurd p. 148

Chapter 16

1. How did the Heron’s earn their first points? By organizing and building their shelter p. 160
2. What did Edvin teach Ingvar? How to roll his bedding/ organize his stuff p. 161
3. What was Hal’s personal weapon? A crossbow p. 163
4. How did Hal have his team go to the training ground? In a fixed formation        p. 165

Chapter 17

1. What assistant instructor is over the Herons brotherband? Gort p. 166
2. What does Ingvar struggle with? His eyesight/ not being able to see p. 167
3. What happened when Gort told Ingvar to swing his club? Ingvar almost took off his head p.168

Chapter 18

1. Why did Ingvar wand to get back at Wulf and ended up squeezing him? He jabbed him in the ribs really hard p. 184
2. What happened when Sigurd examined the Herons new weapons? They ended up getting 20 demerits p. 188
3. What are some things the Herons do for training? Weapon training, physical exercise, navigation studying p. 193

Chapter 19

1. Why did Thorn approach the battle training? Hal’s sword and shield were to bid, he wanted to get him better weapons p. 200
2. Where was Thorn going to get better weapons for Hal? Oberjarl’s storehouse. p.  201
3. How did Gort feel when Thorn wanted to get weapons from Erak’s storehouse? Surprised p.201

Chapter 20

1. Who made the bread Thorn brought to Hal?  Thorn p. 204
2. What part of brotherband training does Hal like the most? Navigation p. 206
3. Where did Thorn take Hal? To the Oberjarl’s storehouse p. 209

Chapter 21

1. In the past, what title had Thorn earned for 3 years in a row? Maktig   p. 218
2. Who cut off his hand? Erak     p. 219
3. Did Hal tell Thorn what Erak said about him? No     p. 223

Chapter 22

1. What’s the first race or assessment the brotherbands compete at? The mountain run p. 225
2. Did Hal decide to run as a team of have an individual runner? Team     p. 228
3. Who won the assessment? The Herons     p. 234

Chapter 23

1. Who did Hal choose to run in the footrace? Jesper    p. 237
2. How did Stig feel about Jesper running instead of himself? Mad at first, then accepted it and has a good attitude p. 240
3. What place did Jesper come in?   3^rd      p. 243

Chapter 24

1. What was the strength test they had to do the same day as the foot race? Tug of war p. 245
2. How did the Herons use their ingenuity to win the tug of war? Jesper took Gort’s whistle and blew it as they were being pulled toward the line then Ingvar pulled the Sharks over the line p. 255

Chapter 25

1. Why did the Sharks come into the Heron camp? They were mad about the tug of war   p. 260
2. Why wasn’t the fight fair? The Herons were spread out, 2 on the roof, Ingvar in the forest and the Sharks had more people p. 266
3. Who came to help the Herons? Rollond and the Wolves p. 267

Chapter 26

1. Who was Hal fighting with during training? Ulf p. 273
2. What had Hal asked Ulf to do since his head hurt? Not hit as hard p. 273
3. How did Sigurd feel about that? He didn’t like it p.276

Chapter 27

1. Who was captain of the ship that needed repair in Hallasholm? Zavac p. 178
2. Who is Zavac? The pirate that wanted information about the Andomal and killed Arndak and his men.  Chapter 12
3. Why do you think he’s here at Hallasholm? To steal the Andomal/ Artifact   p.118

Chapter 28

1. What happened when Hal and Stig helped Ingvar across the pole?They all fell in.   p. 287
2. Who was Hal having wrestle for the Herons? Stig    p. 290
3. What could stop Stig from winning? His temper      p. 291

Chapter 29

1. How did Bjorn get Stig mad? He talked about how stinky he was    p.294
2. Did Stig win or lose?  Lose    p. 295
3. Who gave Stig advice on how to beat Tursgud? Thorn    p. 296

Chapter 30

1. Did Stig lose his temper while wrestling Tursgud? No     p. 305
2. Who won Stig and Tursgud’s wrestling match?    Stig       p. 306
3. What was Thorns reaction when Stig talked about him being made a Maktig? Angry p. 309

Chapter 31

1. Where did Hal spend most of his weekend of vacation? In his workshop    p. 312
2. Why? Making things for Thorn as an apology     p. 313
3. What were the gifts? A hook for a hand, and a club to use instead of a hand    p. 316

Chapter 32

1. What shape do sails do the Porpoise and Lynx have?    Square    p. 323
2. How was Tursgud taking his ship, the Porpoise, up wind? Rowing with oars    p. 324
3. What happened to the Lynx as Rollond tried to tack her? The mast broke    p. 327
4. What did Hal want to do when he saw the Lynx sinking? Go and help    p. 328

Chapter 33

1. How many of Rollond’s men were injured?   Two     p. 331
2. Who did Hal have stay with the Wolves to row back in?   Wulf and Ulf    p. 334
3. What was Tursgud’s reaction to the incident? He said he didn’t realize it was so bad  p. 334

Chapter 34

1. What did Zavac say was wrong with his boat? He said it was leaking    p. 337
2. Who was the drunk on the beach? Thorn    p. 338
3. Why is he pretending to be drunk? To keep an eye of Zavac     p. 339
4. How many assessments do the brotherbands have left?    Two    p. 340

Chapter 35

1. Why are the Wolves out of the competition? They can’t do navigation because their ship is smashed and they have to do every event p. 344
2. To win the challenge, what does the attacking team have to do? Put a plaque in the slot in the top of a box p. 345
3. Did the Sharks get their plaque in the box? Yes    p. 351

Chapter 36

1. Who is the boy who can mimic anyone? Stefan    p. 356
2. What animal did Stefan pretend to be? A bear    p. 355
3. Where was Jesper hiding the whole time? In the hut   p. 359

Chapter 37

1. Who did Hal’s team forget needed to come with them on board the Heron? Gort   p. 356
2. What team was first to leave the harbor? Sharks    p. 368
3. Why was Porpoise faster than the Heron? More people to row    p. 368

Chapter 38

1. How does Gort feel about the Herons? Impressed, hope they win    p. 376
2. What did Hal and his team search for on the island as they sailed past? V shape of trees p. 379
3. After they found the flags on the trees, who came sailing up behind them? Porpoise p. 381

Chapter 39

1. Who was the runner the Sharks sent to retrieve the flag?  Tursgud    p. 382
2. Who got back to the ships first?    Stig     p. 383
3. What happened to Hal’s boat when the wind picked up? The port yardarm broke   p. 388

Chapter 40

1. What slowed the Porpoise down so the Heron wouldn’t crash into it?  A wave    p. 393
2. Who made it into the harbor first and won the brotherband championship? Herons  p. 395
3. What did Erak say that made Hal so happy? He was a true Skandian  p. 397

Chapter 41

1. What were a few of the tokens the Herons received for winning the brotherband? copper bracelet, new weapon, helmet, honor of guarding the Andomal     p. 400
2. Why did Hal to leave his post? To check his boat  since the wind has changed    p. 406
3. When Hal got back, what was missing? The Andomal p. 407

Chapter 42

1. How did Erak react when he found out the Andomal was gone? Furious   p. 408
2. Why was it good that the team was sleeping? Pirates would have slit their throats   p. 413
3. What did Erak do when he found out that Hal left his post? Took away their tokens and any sign that they had been the Herons/ Brotherband, took away Hal’s ship    p. 416

Chapter 43

1. What was Thorn tempted to do again?  Drink    p. 419
2. Who did Thorn overhear talking?  Herons     p. 422
3. What were the Herons planning on doing? Going after Zavac    p. 425
4. Who was going with them to provide the money? Thorn     p. 427

Chapter 44

1. How did Erak feel about the Sharks joining his crew to get back the Andomal?  Said no p. 431
2. What did Erak say when they saw the Heron sailing? “Well done boys”     p. 434
3. Did Erak know the Heron team would go after the Andomal?   Yes    p. 434