The Midnight Library

Reading Check questions are designed for in-class review on key plot points or for quick verbal or written assessments. Multiple Choice and Short Answer Quizzes create ideal summative assessments, and collectively function to convey a sense of the work’s tone and themes.

Prologue - Chapter 13

Reading Check

1. Where does Nora work when the novel begins?

2. Who is Mrs. Elm?

3. What is the name of Nora’s cat who dies?

Multiple Choice

1. What is the effect of the novel’s opening sentence, “Nineteen years before she decided to die, Nora Seed sat in the warmth of the small library at Hazeldene School in the town of Bedford” (1)?

A) It tells the reader that Nora will die when she is 19.

B) It foreshadows Nora’s tragic death.

C) It reveals to readers something that Nora likely does not know.

D) It indicates that the book will end when Nora dies.

2. Why are Ravi and Joe upset that Nora left the band?

A) They were about to sign a record deal.

B) They felt like she purposely sabotaged them.

C) They were mad that she decided to start a solo career.

D) They didn’t have anyone to write songs anymore.

3. What does Mrs. Elm mean when she says, “Between life and death there is a library” (29)?

A) It means that everyone can look through all of their memories one more time.

B) It means that Nora is not quite dead yet but is on her way.

C) It means that Nora has a chance to keep living as a Midnight Librarian.

D) It means that Nora has one opportunity to choose a new life for herself.

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is Nora hurt by what Neil tells her?

2. Why does Nora feel useless by the time she returns home the day after Voltaire’s death?

3. What is one reason that Nora sees Mrs. Elm in the Midnight Library?

4. What happens when Nora holds The Book of Regrets?

Chapters 14-25

Reading Check

1. What is Nora’s role in the first life she tries on?

2. What do the different versions of Nora (from different lives) know of each other?

3. What is most different about Nora’s father in Nora’s life where she kept up swimming?

Multiple Choice

1. What is significant regarding what Nora remembers about Dan’s personality?

A) She remembers that he was perfect in every way.

B) She remembers the criticism she received from him.

C) She remembers that they always used to fight.

D) She remembers that her mother hated him.

2. What does Nora discover when she wishes to try a life where she was a good owner to Voltaire?

A) She learns that she ends up living with several cats.

B) She learns that she manages the animal shelter.

C) She learns that he would’ve died last night anyway.

D) She learns that Voltaire resents her for being too controlling.

3. What is Mrs. Elm’s implied meaning when she tells Nora that she is getting better at choosing lives?

A) She means that Nora is finally understanding how the Midnight Library works.

B) She means that Nora might be opening up to the idea of living instead of dying.

C) She means that Nora is preparing well to take over for her.

D) She means that Nora is more decisive.

4. Why is it significant that Nora incorporates wisdom from Mrs. Elm into her talk when she is a retired Olympic swimmer?

A) She is getting invested in this life, feeling that she has learned everything she can from Mrs. Elm.

B) She is realizing that her father failed her and is the source of her lasting anxiety.

C) She isn’t sure what she is saying since she’s terrified of being on stage, so she’s repeating Mrs. Elm.

D) She is starting to change as a person and is growing from the experience of being in the Midnight Library.

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is the effect of Nora trying out a life with Dan?

2. How does Mrs. Elm reply when Nora asks why she has to endure difficult experiences?

3. What decision does Nora believe ruined her relationship with her father?

4. How is the mention of Svalbard and glaciers during Nora’s life as a swimmer an example of foreshadowing?

Chapters 25-43

Reading Check

1. What is Nora’s job for the day in Svalbard?

2. What name does Hugo have for people like Nora and him?

3. What is the name of Nora’s band?

4. In her life with her band, whose quote does Nora have tattooed on her arm?

Multiple Choice

1. What does Nora believe about her life when she spots the rifle in her cabin in Svalbard?

A) that she is living an adventurous life

B) that she is a hunter

C) that she has to protect herself from others

D) that she has been trained to kill

2. Why is Nora surprised that she has not returned to the Midnight Library while looking for polar bears in Svalbard?

A) She had decided never to live anywhere cold, so the library should bring her back.

B) She is too afraid to fake knowing about science in this life.

C) She is dissatisfied with this life’s conditions and would rather be somewhere else.

D) She still wants to die.

3. What does Nora learn from her time in Svalbard?

A) She learns how to conduct experiments on glaciers.

B) She learns that life has its ups and downs; it is imperfect.

C) She learns that being with nature is her true calling.

D) She learns that she could be happy there.

4. What role does Hugo play in the narrative?

A) He provides a love interest for Nora.

B) He explains how life works in Svalbard.

C) He takes over from Mrs. Elm as Nora’s guide.

D) He explains the science behind moving between lives.

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What revelation does Nora have when the polar bear confronts her?

2. Why is The Book of Regrets getting lighter?

3. Why does Nora leave her life of music fame?

Chapters 44-52

Reading Check

1. What game does Nora win against Mrs. Elm?

2. Who is Nora dating in her life working at the animal shelter?

3. Who from a different life appears in the movie that Nora watches with Dylan?

4. Where is the vineyard where Nora works with Eduardo?

Multiple Choice

1. What does Nora learn from reliving the memory of jumping into the river?

A) that she really was a terrific swimmer

B) that she has to stop worrying about others’ approval

C) that she must choose a life in which Joe is alive

D) that she should have stayed in her life with Dan

2. Where besides the animal shelter has Dylan appeared in Nora’s life?

A) String Theory on the day of her death

B) the pub she owned with Dan

C) her childhood school

D) her mother’s nursing home

3. What is the effect of the author having Nora move through several lives with only short summaries of them?

A) It helps to pass time within the novel.

B) It shows the power of the Midnight Library.

C) It illustrates how Nora is learning to use the library better.

D) It demonstrates that Nora will never be content.

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What happens when Nora tells Mrs. Elm that she no longer wants to visit different lives?

2. Where does Nora get the idea to live a life on a vineyard?

3. What does Nora learn as she cycles through several lives?

Chapters 53-71

Reading Check

1. What is the name of Nora’s daughter with Ash?

2. Who is the subject of Nora’s book in her life with Ash?

3. Whom does Nora defend in front of the police?

4. Whom does Nora visit at the end of the novel?

Multiple Choice

1. What makes Nora try the life where she said “yes” to Ash?

A) She remembers that he was attractive.

B) She sees him in every life that she tries out.

C) She thinks that she is ready to meet him now.

D) She values kindness, especially his kindness.

2. Why does Nora play a game with Molly?

A) to learn more about that life

B) to spend time with her daughter

C) to see how it feels to have a child

D) to pass time

3. Why does Nora feel like a fraud while with Ash and Molly?

A) She doesn’t want to be a mom.

B) She misses her other lives.

C) She wants to stay in this life but did not make it.

D) She doesn’t think she loves Ash and Molly like they love her.

4. What does Nora write in the blank book?

A) “THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME”

B) “I AM ALIVE”

C) “I AM STARTING OVER”

D) “I UNDERSTAND NOW”

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What reason does Mrs. Elm give for Nora’s feeling lost?

2. Why does Nora wonder why she still remembers the Midnight Library?

3. Why does Nora decide to see Mrs. Elm in her life with Ash?

4. Why can’t Nora return to the life with Ash and Molly after leaving?

5. Which life does Nora ultimately choose?