The Final Battle
by Mary Pope Osborne
Grades 3-7; Genre - Mythology; GRL P; AR pts. 1.0
This sixth book of the series presents an excerpt from Homer's ODYSSEY where Odysseus returns to Ithaca and finds that he must fight to regain control from those who are plaguing his family.
Comprehension Questions
Chapter 1
- Why did Athena give Penelope the gift of sleep? She couldn’t sleep on her own; she was heartbroken for Odysseus and worried the gods would support the killing of Telemachus p.13
Chapter 2
- Why was Odysseus broken hearted to see his dog? No one has taken care of him since Odysseus leftp.21
Chapter 3
- Summarize this chapter. Athena told Odysseus to beg from each man to learn who was good and who was evil; Telemachus told the suitors to leave and they did; Athena guided the father and son as they moved the weapons to an upstairs room p.23
Chapter 4
- What contest was Penelope going to require of the suitors? To string Odysseus’s bow and shoot an arrow through the rings of 12 ax handles p.39
- Why did Athena call Odysseus a faithless mortal? He was beginning to doubt in her p.42
Chapter 5
- What were the gods trying to tell the men and Odysseus’s family in this chapter? Odysseus would prevail and the suitors would die p.44
Chapter 6
- Why was Penelope and the other women told to go to their rooms? To protect them from seeing the battle that was about to ensue p.56
- Could Odysseus string the bow and shoot through the ax handles? Yes p.57
Chapter 7
- How did Athena help Odysseus in this battle? She sent the enemies spears away from them; gave the enemies a cloud of her shield which meant certain death p.64
Chapter 8
- What convinced Penelope she had her husband home? Odysseus’s upset reaction when she told her maid to carry out her bed p.74
Chapter 9
- Why didn’t Odysseus fight the suitors' kin? Athena and Zeus told him not to seek their lives and that there was to be peace p.86