Comprehension Questions- The Boxcar Children #22 The Animal Shelter Mystery

The Animal Shelter Mystery

By Gertrude Chandler Warner

Grades 3-4; Genre - Fiction; GRL O; AR pts: 3.0

The Alden children are helping out at the local animal shelter for the summer.  Some mean men have come into town and threatened an older woman out of her home.  The children hurry to beat the clock to protect the woman and her land.

Comprehension Questions

Chapter 1

  1. What was making the noise outside the Alden’s door?  Cat   p. 2
  2. How did Violet know the cat was a girl cat?  All Calico cats are girls   p. 3
  3. What was in the locket around the cat’s neck?  A note   p. 5
  4. What was the mystery the Alden children wanted to solve?  Who the cat belonged to and why they wanted to give it to the Aldens   p. 8

Chapter 2

  1. What did Violet do while Jesse made the cat carrier?  Make FOUND CAT signs  p. 12
  2. What were the children going to deliver as they looked for Patches' owner?  Newspapers  p. 15
  3. Who knew who owned Patches?   Mr. Clover   p. 15
  4. What did Mr. Clover want the children to do while he finished his delivery route?  Go to Miss Newcombe’s home and talk to her   p.  16

Chapter 3

  1. What was the screeching noise the Alden’s heard as they came up to Miss Newcombe’s place? The iron gates closing   p. 20
  2. What was going to be happening to the animal shelter?  It was closing in two weeks.  P. 26
  3. What address was on Fred’s collar? The same address Patches belongs to  p. 27
  4. Why was the shelter closing?  The founder wants to close it.   P. 30
  5. Where was the animal shelter going to keep the animals that won’t fit at the shelter?  In the boxcar  p. 34

Chapter 4

  1. What did the men at Mr. Seed’s store purchasing?  Dynamite   p. 37
  2. How did the men look at the children?  Stared hard in a mean way  p. 40
  3. Why did Mr. Seed want the children to stay in the store as he locked it behind the men?  He didn’t want the children around the men after the way the men acted.   P. 42
  4. What did Benny find as he pulled off the rotting shed boards?  Three black notebooks   p. 47

Chapter 5

  1. What is a deed?  Legal paper that says who owns certain land   p.  55
  2. Whose name was on the deed that was in the notebook?  Miss Newcombe’s father’s/ Silas Newcombe   p. 55
  3. Why can’t Miss Newcombe be visiting relatives?  She doesn’t have any family.   P. 58
  4. What did the man on the phone tell Jesse and Violet?  They’d need a freight train to hold all the animals when the shelter closes and to stop look for Miss Newcombe.   P. 62

Chapter 6

  1. What appeared overnight in the boxcar that morning?   More dogs and cats       p. 66
  2. What did the note say that was in with the newspapers?  Last warning, mind your own business   p. 69
  3. How did the children get into Miss Newcombe’s house?  The dogs ran in and they chased them   p. 74
  4. What did the men do to Miss Newcombe?  Scare her away  p. 78

Chapter 7

  1. What happened to the Alden’s car as they were driving to the capital building?  Stopped in the middle of the road  p. 83
  2. Why are the Aldens needing to get to the capital by noon?  It closes   p. 84
  3. What was wrong with the car?  Out of gas   p. 86
  4. What do the children need to get to Mr. Tully to prove the land belongs to Miss Newcombe?  A will saying her father gave her the land   p. 93

Chapter 8

  1. Who did Violet find in the boxcar at night?  Miss Newcombe   p. 101
  2. Why did Miss Newcombe bring the animals to the boxcar shelter and leave Patches with the Aldens?  She knew they’d get taken care of.   P. 101
  3. How did Miss Newcombe not know the property was hers?  Jacob Kisco never gave her father the deed   p. 105
  4. Who’s the founder of the animal shelter?  Miss Newcombe   p. 106
  5. In his will, why did her father say the land was hers if there wasn’t a deed?  He was sure Kisco left the land to him   p. 109

Chapter 9

  1. Who did Jesse call when she saw a truck with a man in it early in the morning?  Police   p. 111
  2. What did the men try to do before the police officer got there?  Slash grandfather’s tires   p. 112
  3. Who did Violet give the gray Persian cat to?  The people who found Lad/ Fred wandering in the parking lot/ O’Conners   p. 121
  4. Why was Miss Newcombe so secretive and always kept to herself?  She was afraid the state would find out she didn’t have the deed for the land.   P. 118
  5. Why was she glad her new friends found her?  they helped her out so much and she wants to be a friend herself now     p. 121