They Both Die at the End

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.

Part 1

Reading Check

1. Who is Rufus beating up when he receives his call from the Death-Cast?

2. What is a “Decker”?

3. What is the nickname of the foster home where Rufus, Tagoe, and Malcolm reside?

4. Who called the police on Rufus?

Multiple Choice

1. Why does Mateo feel that it’s better to spend the day living rather than attending his own funeral?

A) He doesn’t want a funeral at all.

B) He doesn’t have many people to say goodbye to.

C) His grandmother told him that before she passed away.

D) He wants people to celebrate his life after he’s gone.

2. What does Mateo decide before almost leaving his apartment the first time?

A) that he wants to spend his last day with his father

B) that he wants to pretend to be someone else for the day

C) that he wants to throw a big party to celebrate his life

D) that he won’t tell anyone that it’s his End Day

3. How did Rufus initially want to spend his End Day?

A) He wanted to hang out with Mateo.

B) He wanted to have a funeral with his friends and foster parents.

C) He wanted to listen to Aimee play piano for him all day.

D) He wanted to go on a road trip.

4. Why does Mateo ultimately decide to have a Last Friend, despite the mixed reviews he’d read on CountDowners?

A) He thinks it’ll be good for him to have some company.

B) He hopes that this person will tell his story after he dies.

C) He wants to meet his soul mate.

D) He doesn’t plan on seeing anyone he knows that day.

5. Why is Mateo particularly excited to meet Rufus?

A) He believes that Rufus can save his life.

B) He believes that Rufus is the only person who can understand him.

C) He believes that Rufus has embraced his fate and appreciates his confidence.

D) He believes that Rufus will encourage him to relax in his apartment all day.

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 does Mateo hang up on the Death-Cast representative?

2. What has being at Pluto taught Rufus?

3. Why does Rufus joke that there will be one less mouth to feed with him gone?

4. What reason does Rufus give Aimee for beating up Peck?

Part 2

Reading Check

1. How does Andrea Donahue view her job at Death-Cast?

2. What does Mateo see on the road?

3. Who do Mateo and Rufus go see first?

4. How did Rufus’s parents die?

Multiple Choice

1. Why does Malcolm argue with the police?

A) He wants them to understand that it’s Rufus’s End Day.

B) He thinks they should arrest Peck.

C) He wants to give Rufus more time to escape.

D) He hopes they will listen to his side of the story.

2. Why does Rufus decide not to tell Mateo about his fight with Peck?

A) He believes that Mateo is too pure and won’t spend the day with him.

B) He doesn’t want Mateo to worry about Peck coming back.

C) He wants to leave the fight behind him since it ruined his day.

D) He doesn’t want to think about Peck because it makes him think about Aimee.

3. What does Rufus mean when he says, “[i]t’s possible Mateo not being a daredevil will keep us alive longer, but I’m not banking on it being a memorable End Day” (Chapter 18)?

A) He believes that Mateo is working out a plan to save their lives.

B) He thinks that Mateo will make sure they live as long as possible.

C) He knows that Mateo will honor his wish to go out calmly.

D) He thinks Mateo is playing it too safe and that their End Day won’t be interesting.

4. Why does Rufus think that Mateo should tell Lidia that it’s his End Day?

A) He thinks Mateo should have the chance to say goodbye.

B) He thinks that Lidia deserves to know the truth.

C) He thinks that Mateo should tell someone since he couldn’t say goodbye to his father.

D) He thinks that it will allow Mateo to live his life.

5. Why is it especially difficult for Rufus to feel like he abandoned his friends?

A) He feels that it’s similar to his family abandoning him.

B) He feels that he was holding Pluto together.

C) He feels that they will never stop mourning him.

D) He feels that he will never be able to apologize to them.

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 Mateo concerned that it was a bad idea for him and Rufus to spend their last day together?

2. Why doesn’t Mateo let himself party even though he thinks he might enjoy it?

3. How does Rufus convince Mateo to leave the hospital?

4. What does Rufus mean when he says he believes in two afterlives?

Part 3

Reading Check

1. What is Vin Pearce’s plan for his End Day?

2. What does Mateo buy at Open Bookstore?

3. What is Traveler?

4. How does Peck keep track of Rufus?

5. Who are the two boys Gabriella and Zoe bump into as they get on the subway?

6. Where do Mateo and Rufus go after the World Travel Arena?

Multiple Choice

1. To whom did Mateo say the most important goodbye since receiving the Death-Cast notice twelve hours earlier?

A) his father

B) Lidia

C) Rufus

D) Past Mateo

2. Why might being near the Hudson River give Rufus closure?

A) He views the water as a place of rebirth.

B) He is calmed by the sound of the water.

C) His family died in the river, and he has carried around the guilt of surviving.

D) He thinks water connects everyone, and that comforts him.

3. What does being on Rufus’s bike convince Mateo to do?

A) learn how to ride it

B) something brave, even if it’s small

C) enjoy the day, despite its impending end

D) call Lidia one more time

4. What effect does the “Rainforest Jump” have on Rufus?

A) It feels cathartic to him.

B) It terrifies him.

C) It makes him feel more prepared to die.

D) It does not affect him.

5. Why does Officer Andrade decide to stop pursuing Rufus?

A) Malcolm and Tagoe convince her to leave him alone.

B) Her sixth sense convinces her that Rufus will not cause chaos.

C) She resigns herself to the fact that she will not catch him.

D) Rufus’s Instagram page shows that he’s enjoying his day.

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 does the explosion make Rufus realize?

2. Why does Deirdre decide not to commit suicide?

3. Why does Rufus feel proud when Mateo jumps off his bike before Rufus comes to a full stop?

4. Who is Gabriella, and why does she support Last Friend?

Part 4

Reading Check

1. What song do Mateo and Rufus perform?

2. Who causes Howie Maldonado’s death?

3. What promise do Mateo and Rufus make to one another?

Multiple Choice

1. Why does Mateo finally kiss Rufus?

A) He wanted to wait until they were alone.

B) He wanted to make sure that their connection was real.

C) He wanted to make sure that Rufus was interested in him.

D) He wanted to kiss someone on his End Day.

2. Why does Rufus feel like “[t]his day is doing me dirty on goodbyes” (Chapter 71)?

A) because it is his last day alive

B) because he keeps choking up whenever he has to say goodbye

C) because he never got to say goodbye to his parents

D) because he keeps having to run off

3. What is significant about the Luigi hat that Rufus sees in Mateo’s apartment?

A) It reminds him of his room at the foster home.

B) It is the same hat that Mateo was wearing in his profile picture on Last Friend.

C) It makes him feel like he’s been inside a video game all day.

D) It helps him to remember how much Mateo has grown.

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 does Mateo think that his End Day has been wonderful?

2. According to Howie Maldonado, how has his success been a “double-edged sword”?

3. What does Mateo do that surprises Rufus when Peck points the gun at him?

4. Why is Dalma Young significant to the story?

5. Why does Rufus think that Mateo “died a hero” (Chapter 79)?