These questions may be used as the teacher reads the story aloud stopping on the appropriate pages to build understanding by eliciting answers from the students.
I created these questions as a guide but, of course, your own questions would work just as well. I’ve provided answers to my own questions if you’d like to use them. However, please feel free to accept all reasonable responses.
The first four questions are pre-reading activities to ready the students for the story.
Q. What is the name of this story? What do you think it is about?
Q. What are the five boys doing on stage?
A. They are dancing.
Q. Where are the boy in blue and the girl in green?
A. They are backstage.
Q. Why might they be there if they are not dancing?
A. They are friends of Jake’s and were invited to watch the performance from backstage.
Q. What is special about Jake making his debut performance at the Imperial Dance Company in New York City?
A. This is a professional ballet company and requires a great deal of talent and skill. For Jake, at ten years old, to dance there means the company believes he is a skilled dancer who can perform in front of a big city crowd.
Q. What do Jake and his father talk about on the train to New York City? Do you agree or disagree with Jake’s thinking? Explain your reason.
A. They talk about whether to tell his friends about his professional ballet dancing or not.
Q. Why do you think Jake’s mom and dad don’t live together?
A. They are divorced. She married another person.
Q. In Café Turino Jake continues to worry about something. Do you know what it is?
A. He worries about whether to tell his friends about his professional ballet dancing especially now that he has felt the thrill of his success.
Q. Grandma gives Jake advice after they arrive home from his performance. Can you explain what that advice is?
A. She tells him to be himself like Georgie is himself. Do you agree or disagree with it?
Q. On Monday, Jake goes to school and talks to his friends on the class line. Tell what he says and explain why it makes him feel uncomfortable.
A. Instead of telling his friends he made his ballet debut he tells them he was at his aunt’s playing with his cousins. Then he adds it is in West Windsor which is too far away for his friends to play with him and his cousins. Saying this makes him uncomfortable because it is all a lie. He says these things so he doesn’t have to tell them he was dancing in a ballet.
What we really are matters more than what other people think of us.— Jawaharlal Nehru
Q. Owen and Stan make Tyler very upset. How do they upset him?
A. Owen and Stan untie his shoelaces. Tyler is autistic and this is something they know will upset him. So it was done on purpose.
Q. What does Jake do during the Tyler incident?
A. He says “No, Owen…” but does nothing to stop the treatment of Tyler. Nor does he help him once they make him scream.
Q. Who helps Tyler?
A. Esther
Q. Why did she help?
A. Esther knows what the boys did to Tyler is wrong. She is not afraid to go help Tyler and stand up to Owen and Stan. To her, it was the right thing to do and she wasn’t worried about what the boys think of her.
Q. Owen and Arianna explain to Mr. Belmont their version of what happened to Tyler. What is their explanation?
A. They said that Esther was making fun of Tyler and they were laughing. They also said Esther untied his shoelaces and he became hysterical. Give your opinion about their behavior.
Q. Why do Tyler, Esther, Owen, Stan, Arianna, and Jake go to Ms. Mancuso’s office?
A. Mr. Belmont told Ms. Mancuso what happened on the line. She called them in to find out the truth because Tyler was a victim of unkindness.
Q. How do they explain what happened?
A. Tyler only remembers his laces being untied and getting upset. Owen, Stan, and Arianna say they heard Esther tell them Tyler was weird and she was going to spook him. Esther tells her that the boys untied Tyler’s shoe laces and she tied them to help him when he screamed.
Q. What does Jake say about the incident?
A. Jake says he heard nothing, lying again.
Q. Describe what Ms. Mancuso tells them to do for the next week.
A. Ms. Mancuso tells them each to write an apology note to Tyler. Then they each must spend time on line in the morning talking to Tyler and eating lunch with him every day for one week. She wants them to practice kindness after they apologize. Was this fair? Why or why not?
Q. What does Georgie teach Jake?
A. He teaches him to do what he wants to do and not worry about what others expect him to do.
Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.— Les Brown
Q. Tell what happens in Ms. Mancuso’s office when Jake and his dad return the next day.
A. Jake tells Ms. Mancuso he lied about not hearing anything. He tells her what Owen and Stan did. Then he explains that he is a professional ballet dancer but he lies and doesn’t tell his friends about this. Lying because of fear is becoming a habit. Now he has hurt someone by lying.
Q. When Jake returns to his class line he gives some news to his friends. Tell what he said.
A. First, Jake invites Tyler to his house to play. Then Jake tells his friends that he made his professional ballet debut on Saturday and is excited.
Q. How do the children act when they hear his news?
A. Owen is angry and makes fun of Jake and Tyler. The other children laugh.
Q. What do you think of Jake and Owen’s behavior on this day?
Q. What does Esther do when she hears Jake’s news?
A. Esther asks if she can play with Tyler and Jake.
Q. At the end of the story, Jake has changed. What does he do that is different from his past behavior?
A. He is truthful about dancing. He performs for different schools showing his talent as a dancer. He is no longer ruled by fear of being bullied.
Q. Think about Jake, Owen, Stan, and Esther. What do you like or dislike about their behavior?
Q. Think about the cover again. Now explain what is happening there.
A. Jake and the other dancers are performing with The Imperial Dance Company. Tyler and Esther, as Jake’s good friends, are invited to watch the performance from backstage which is a special treat. Jake is now Dancing with the Truth.
Q. Describe the important lesson you learned from this story.
A. Everyone has talents, hopes, plans, and rights. Each person should do what makes them happy and grow as a person. No one should worry about the expectations of others. We should make our own decisions for our own life.
George was abandoned by his first family. It took four homes for him to find his forever home. He is not angry or bitter. Rather he is loving and playful.