All The Lovely Bad Ones

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay. 

Scaffolded/Short-Answer Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. The importance of the written word is a motif in the novel.

• Make a claim about the importance of the written word in All the Lovely Bad Ones (topic sentence).
• Why did Miss Ada keep an account book, and why does she eventually try to hide it? Why does it matter that it will now be published? Why are the numbers on the stones not enough for the ghost children, and what do they want instead? Consider these questions as you discuss the book, the stones, and any other examples of this motif.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, summarize the general lesson or theme conveyed by the importance of the written word in this novel.

2. Consider the various roles played by the characters in the novels.

• How does the novel present male and female gender roles? (topic sentence)
• What responsibilities, attitudes, and abilities does the text assign to men versus those it assigns to women? How do the characters use language and emotion to try to force one another to uphold assumed or traditional gender roles? Discuss these points using specific details and examples of support from the novel.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, summarize how the reading experience might be impacted by the novel’s use of gender roles.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Travis and Corey start playing pranks at Fox Hill because they are trying to do something nice for their grandmother. Their faked ghost sightings cause several characters distress—but they also increase business, just as Travis and Corey intended. Once the real ghosts wake up, of course, it becomes clear that Travis and Corey have done more harm than good. Write an essay in which you explore how Travis’s and Corey’s actions make a point about Good Versus Bad and Evil. Be sure to consider their motives, the impact of their actions on others, and their willingness to make things right again. Connect these aspects of their story to a larger message about what it means to be a “good” or “bad” person.

2. At first, no one can see the ghost children. Which major character is the first to see them? Which major character is the last to see them? What judgment do characters who cannot see the ghosts make about the characters who can see them? Write an essay about what the novel is suggesting about what it really means to “see” and how we should react when people see things differently from the way we see them. Consider more than the literal meaning of the word “see”; for instance, what does it mean that Miss Ada never “sees” how wrong her behavior is? How does her eventual fate connect to this failure?