Midnight for Charlie Bone
By Jenny Nimmo
Grades 3-7; Genre - Fantasy; GRL U; AR pts: 10.0
Charlie Bone gets caught in the middle of mystery of finding a girl about his age as he realizes he has an unusual talent. He gets sent to a private school and finds the missing girl, but is opposed by his aunts, grandma and the family who runs the school. With a group of reliable friends, Charlie helps the girl and solves the mystery.
Comprehension Questions
Chapter 1
- Who does Charlie live with that we know of so far in the story? His two grandmothers, mother p. 2
- Tell me about Grandma Bone. She can do witchery, wears black/gray, from the Yewbeam family line, complained all the time, grouchy p. 3
- Why does Charlie feel his has disappointed his Grandma Bone? He doesn’t have any magic coming from the Yewbeams family line p. 3
- What was strange about the photograph Charlie looked at? He heard voices coming from it, it was not the one he had taken p. 6
Chapter 2
- Why did Charlie’s aunts come to visit? To see if he’s found worthy to attend Bloor’s Academy p. 21
- How did the aunts respond when they realized Charlie could hear voices from the photographs he looked at? Happy p. 30
- Why does Charlie’s mom insist he must attend Bloor’s Academy? They won’t be supported by the Yewbeam family anymore and they’ll have nothing p. 32
- What happened to Charlie’s father? he drove off the road and into a quarry/ he died p. 34
- What happened to all of the photographs, Charlie’s mom had of his father? they disappeared p. 34
Chapter 3
- What’s Uncle Paton’s special power? Make lights become brighter/bow out p. 41
- What did the blue cape represent that Charlie would wear to his new school? that he was a musician p. 44
- Why did Mr. Onimous visit Charlie’s house? To kill the mice in the pantry p. 46
- How did Charlie know where to go to give the mixed up photo to? the name address of the person who owned the photo was on the original photo p. 53
- Who’s Julia Ingledew? The lady who owned the photo Charlie had/ book seller p. 53
Chapter 4
- What did Ms. Ingledew give Charlie in exchange for the photo? A robotic dog that can record voices and a heavy metal box p, 65
- Why did Charlie hide the heavy metal box and robotic dog at Benjamin’s? so no one would ask him questions about them p. 67
- Why couldn’t the boys open the metal box? It was locked and they didn’t have the key p. 76
- Why did Charlie pay Miss Ingledew a visit again? To see if she had a key for the metal box p. 76
Chapter 5
- Tell me about Charlie’s Uncle Paton? He’s his father’s brother, only goes out at night, endowed with power to blow out light bulbs, grumpy p. 87
- Who is Charlie’s best friend? Benjamin p. 89
- How many keys did Miss Ingledew give Charlie to try to open the case? 10 p. 97
Chapter 6
- Why did Grandma Bone feel like Charlie had been wicked and deceitful to her? he was trying to hide the case so she wouldn’t know about it p. 106
- Why was Charlie hiding the box from Grandma Bone? She wants to take it from him/ he feels like he needs to save the girl with the box p. 108
- Who is Fidelio Gunn? Charlie’s music tutor p. 110
- What does Charlie’s Uncle Paton do in his room all day? Write a book p. 116
- Who’s protecting the box from Charlie’s aunts? Runner Bean p. 123
Chapter 7
- Who had put the case in the cellar when the boys couldn’t find it in Benjamin’s room? Mr. Onimous p. 128
- Where did Charlie recognize Manfred Bloor from? From a newspaper photograph that he could hear p.132
- What’s Manfred’s endowed power? Hypnotism p. 135
- What did Charlie see when he was hypnotized? in a car then pulled out as he watched it tumble into a quarry p. 134
- What did Benjamin see as he was looking into strawberry yogurt and Charlie was looking at a photo of him? Charlie’s face p. 139
Chapter 8
- What department does Asa Pike belong to at Bloor’s Academy? Drama Department p. 147
- Why did Charlie have a blue cape to wear at school? he’s part of the music department p. 150
- When was Charlie supposed to wear the blue cape? The entire time during the day p. 153
- When could the students speak to each other during school? in the coatrooms p. 156
- What was Charlie’s consequence for not wearing a cape? Detention on Friday night p. 166
Chapter 9
- Who also received detention for Friday night? Olivia Vertigo p. 167
- What departments do the purple, green and black capes represent? Purple/ drama; green/ art; black/ faculty p. 174
- How did Charlie know Dr. Bloor took the baby? He could read his face p. 175
- What room is Charlie assigned to do homework in? The Red King’s Room p. 177
- What did Gabriel tell Charlie about his father when he held his father’s tie? That he was lost not dead p. 190
Chapter 10
- Why was Gabriel so happy to be wearing Charlie’s brand new cloak? The cloak didn’t have any memories p. 191
- Why doesn’t Bill Raven ever go home? He doesn’t have one/ he’s an orphan p. 192
- What’s Billy’s power? To speak with animals p. 195
- Who did Billy let in the night Manfred’s room caught fire? The three cats p. 197
- Where did the kids explore during their detention Friday night? Da Vinci tower p. 201
Chapter 11
- Where did the kids hide when Dr. Bloor came into the room with Tolley’s inventions? In the closet p. 209
- How old are Mr. Onimous’ cats? 900 years old p. 211
- Who was Matron? Charlie’s Aunt Lucretia p. 214
- Who did Charlie think the lost baby was? Emilia Moon p. 218
- What did Charlie tell Billy he heard in the photograph of his parents? That they couldn’t wait to get back to him/ he was very precious p. 221
Chapter 12
- After Charlie went to go look out the window for Fidelio and Benjamin, what did he hear as he went up the corridor away from Manfred? Piano music p. 228
- Who was playing the beautiful music? Mr. Pilgrim p. 228
- What killed the poor girl in the ruin? A wolf p. 232
- How did Charlie make Manfred so angry? Looked into Manfred’s eyes and tried to hear his thoughts p. 235
Chapter 13
- Why did Emma Tolley get taken away from her father? to live with another family that her father thought would be good for her/ the Bloor’s offered her father the opportunity to try to make a replica of his ancestor come to life p. 246
- What’s Emma’s special power? She can fly p. 250
- Who did Charlie think the young organist who tried to stop the Bloor’s from taking Emma? His father p. 251
- How did Fidelio get the case home without looking suspicious? He brought a xylophone case to carry it in p. 251
- Why was Uncle Paton so upset from his date with Miss Ingledew? He blew out the lights in the restaurant and left without paying the bill p. 256
Chapter 14
- Why did Mr. Bloor Senior want to see Billy Raven when he was alone for the weekend at the academy? To tell him a family wanted to adopt p.267
- What did Mr. Bloor Senior want from Billy in exchange of giving him a family? Information on Charlie p. 269
- How did Billy feel about the deal with Mr. Bloor Senior? Anxious to tell what he knew about Charlie/ he didn’t know Mr. Bloor was bad/ he wanted to be adopted p. 269
Chapter 15
- Tell me about Fidelio’s house? Loud, music everywhere, lots of people, big, loud doorbell that yelled “DOOR” p. 281
- Why was Fidelio’s house the perfect place to open the case? It was so loud with music, no one heard them when they opened the case p. 284
- What came out of the case when Charlie pressed the letters? A knightly figure holding the sword p. 285
- Why did Dr. Tolley think this would help Emma wake up her sleep Manfred’s causing? It’s the same sounds she heard when Manfred put the spell on her p. 286
Chapter 16
- When Benjamin’s parents went away, who came to look after him? One of Charlie’s aunts/ Aunt Eustacia p. 294
- What happened to Runner Bean in the night? He got attacked and badly wounded p. 306
- Who did Benjamin got to when he thought Runner Bean was going to die? Uncle Paton p. 308
- What had attacked Runner Bean? A wild beast p. 310
Chapter 17
- Who helped patch up Runner Bean and help him feel better? Mr. Onimous p. 316
- Why did Benjamin’s mother decide to stay home with him more? Uncle Paton talked to her p. 317
- What did Runner Bean say attacked him? a wolf p. 320
- What happened to Emilia when she heard the music and bells? She cried and woke up p. 329
- What happened to Emma when she was brought back to Bloor’s Academy? She was locked up in a room, something invisible let her out, but she was chased back into her room p. 341
- How did Emma Tolley escape the academy? She flew out the window p. 342
Chapter 18
- Who’s the Red King? A king with special power from Africa, all of the people with endowed power are descended from him, his wife died and he left, his children became at war with their neighbors, five of his ten children were bad, five disappeared yet some of them became bad also, Uncle Paton called him a magician, had three leopards p. 348
- What was the present Aunt Venetia give Charlie? Blue cape p. 357
Chapter 19
- Tell me about the Ruin Game. There’s a medal hiding in the center of the Ruin and each department of students get to search for the medal. Whoever finds it, wins p. 360What was special about the cape Charlie’s aunt gave him? it glowed in the dark p. 366
- How did Charlie feel about the glowing cape? He didn’t like it/ tore it off so he couldn’t be caught p. 367
- Who found the medal in the Ruin? Billy Raven p. 369
Chapter 20
- Who went into the Ruin after Charlie? The children of the Red King/ Gabriel, Lysander, Tancred p. 373
- Which person can turn into a wolf? Asa Pike p. 375
- How did the boys save Charlie in the Ruin? Made the wind blow out the darkness so Charlie could see, the Cathedral bell rang loudly, ghostly figures surrounded the wolf p. 377
- Why did Cook prepare a feast so late at night? To celebrate Charlie being found p. 380
- How did Uncle Paton settle it so Emma Tolley could live with her aunt? He went to the academy and caused explosions with his power p. 391
Chapter 21
- Why did Charlie want to go back to Bloor’s Academy? To balance out the bad things going on with the good things he can do p. 395
- How had Emma changed when she became the real Emma and stopped being Emilia? Happy, lively, bouncing ponytail, excited p. 400