Anticipation Guide for

Reading "Empty" by Suzanne

Weyn
"It's the future - the very near future - and the fossil fuels are running out." This is the first line
on the back of the book, "Empty" by Suzanne Weyn.

Please share your opinions on the following statements which deal with: (a) whether or not we
are actually going to run out of fossil fuels and (b) if so, would our lives really change that much.

Please rate your opinion based on a 1 - 5 scale, from Strongly Disagree (1) to Strongly Agree (5).

1) Rising gas prices don’t affect me because I’m not old enough to
drive. *
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly
Strongly Agree
Disagree
Select a value from a range from 1,Strongly Disagree, to 5,Strongly Agree,.

2) I don’t like to think about environmental problems because

there isn’t much that I can do to make a difference anyway. *
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly
Strongly Agree
Disagree
Select a value from a range from 1,Strongly Disagree, to 5,Strongly Agree,.

3) Global warming is not as big of a problem as it is made out to

be. *
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly
Strongly Agree
Disagree
Select a value from a range from 1,Strongly Disagree , to 5,Strongly Agree,.

4) Canada is a very environmentally friendly country. *

1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Strongly Agree
 Disagree
Select a value from a range from 1,Strongly Disagree , to 5,Strongly Agree,.

5) There is no need to worry about running out of fossil fuels

because that is not going to happen anytime soon (probably not
in my lifetime). *
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly
Strongly Agree
Disagree
Select a value from a range from 1,Strongly Disagree , to 5,Strongly Agree,.

6) The government will take care of the people and figure out a
solution to the fossil fuel problem long before it becomes a major
issue. *
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly
Strongly Agree
Disagree
Select a value from a range from 1,Strongly Disagree , to 5,Strongly Agree,.

7) If fossil fuels were actually running out, people would be doing

more to prepare and change their ways. *
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly
Strongly Agree
Disagree
Select a value from a range from 1,Strongly Disagree, to 5,Strongly Agree,.

8) There will be plenty of warning before we run out of fossil

fuels. We will have time to change our ways when we need to. *
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly
Strongly Agree
Disagree
Select a value from a range from 1,Strongly Disagree, to 5,Strongly Agree,.

9) Our lives won’t change very much without fossil fuels. We will
do some things differently (like drive electric cars) but mostly
our lives will stay the same.*
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly
Strongly Agree
Disagree
Select a value from a range from 1,Strongly Disagree , to 5,Strongly Agree,.

Choose five (5) of the above statements which you feel very
strongly about. *
Choose a statement that you either strongly disagree or strongly agree with and you can discuss why you feel that way.
Please discuss why you feel very strongly about the statements
you selected. *
Please respond in complete sentences. Responses should be: 3 - 4 sentences.

Empty Chapter 1 Questions

1.) List three things that you would miss the most if the world ran out of oil:

2.) How would your life be different with no gas for cars, trains, or planes?

3.) “Gwen Jones squeezed out of her bedroom window onto the sizzling roof below. Even through
her flip-flops, she could feel the burn of the shingles. The feebly whirring minifan on her night
table was no match against the full bake of this night. Whatever relief she could find out here
was better than nothing.” p.1

What words are being used to create imagery in the paragraph above?

4.) Who is Gwen searching for when she’s on the roof top? Based on this person’s description (e.g
their appearance) why might Gwen be worried for them?

5.) How does Gwen feel about them? Are the two of them close? Based on what you’ve read
explain why.

6.) What has been happening the last six months?

7.) Who is Luke? What does he do for a living? Why does Gwen avoid him?

8.) What is Gwen’s home situation like?

9.) Why does Luke refer to a “trip to Paris” as being hysterical? How might this be verbal irony?

10.)What does Luke suggest Gwen do if she decides to go out?

11.)“Everything counted. That was what they were learning. No matter how small, everything
counted.” p 5

Explain how this statement can relate to today’s world, remember that the events of this book
start “ten years from now.” (e.g paying attention to our carbon footprints)

12.)Describe the three characters you have learned about so far:

 Empty Chapter 1 Vocabulary:

Sizzling

Shingles

Feebly

Cosmic

Gutter

Electric Turbine

Stalking

Wholesome

Emerged

Hedges

Scrutinizing

Vulnerable

Warily

Hysterical
10 YEARS FROM NOW…

CHAPTER 1

Gwen Jones squeezed out of her bedroom window onto the sizzling
roof below. Even through her flip-flops, she could feel the burn of
the shingles. The feebly whirring mini fan on her night table was no
match against the full bake of this night. Whatever relief she could
find out here was better than nothing.

Some cosmic cook had slowly started cranking the temperature a

week earlier, and Sage Valley was now, at the end of August,
blasting at full roar. Wiping sweat from her face, Gwen lifted her
gaze to a sagging second level of roof above her, its chipped tiles
sparkling under the reflection of the full moon. She guessed that she
had more chance of catching a late-night summer draft the higher
she went, so she boosted herself over the gutter and inched up,
backward and sitting. Kicking off her sliding flip-flops, her bare feet
scratched the raspy roof until she was nearly at the peak.

With her knees to her chest, she sat surveying the valley. The ring of
dark mountains no longer twinkled with lights from distant houses
and stores as they’d done when she was a kid. In the last six months,
the price of electricity had gone so high that everyone was cutting
back where they could. Most people in town blamed the electricity
price hike on the fact that the electric turbines in their area were all
powered by oil, and the oil price would not stop rising.
 Standing, Gwen peered down over the high hedges just behind
her house, to a new housing development. The yard easiest for Gwen
to see belonged to the family of a guy from last year’s junior class at
Sage Valley High, Tom Harris. She could hardly believe they’d both
be seniors when school started.
Gwen’s pulse quickened as Tom emerged from his house, letting the
screen door slam behind him. His appearance always managed to
charge Gwen with excitement.

The dark-haired boy threw himself down hard onto the wooden
bench of the picnic table in the Harris’s backyard, and buried his
head in his hands. He sat that way for a long while before resting his
head down completely on the table.
Gwen’s skin prickled with worry. What had happened to him?
Usually, when she saw him out here in the evenings, he was
shooting basketball or talking on his cell phone, laughing.
Something was definitely wrong.
Tom and Gwen had been in several of the same classes, but they
didn’t really know each other. Still…she’d been coming up to this
rooftop since she was eleven and she had been watching him and his
family in their yard at night since they moved in over a year ago. It
wasn’t as though she was stalking or spying on them. She was up
here, and they just happened to be down there. And when they were
having one of their family barbecues, it was so nice to watch them.
They seemed so normal and wholesome. Not a bit like her own
home situation.
 Sometimes she imagined herself going out with Tom. Of course
she liked his looks—who wouldn’t? He could have been a model,
with his dark curls and broad shoulders. He played football, and he
looked the type, tall and strongly built. But, really, what he looked
like was only a small part of it. She liked imagining herself in that
warm, cozy family setting, a welcome and natural part of it.
This longing confused her. It wasn’t something she would ever
admit to. She was more likely to mock it, even. But she had to admit,
if only to herself, that part of her would have liked very much to be
there.
Tonight, though, she was seeing a different picture. Tom was clearly
upset. On an impulse, Gwen left the upper roof and slipped back
into her flip-flops she’d left on the lower level. Climbing into her
bedroom window, she hurried through the dark kitchen and let the
screen door slam behind her.

Outside, Gwen crossed the small yard along the moonlit

pathway into the hedges. Squeezing through, she ignored the
scratches to her skin as she pushed her way to the chain-link fence
separating Tom’s perfect world from her very different one.
With her fingers curled into the metal web of the fence, she
observed him. Tom’s upper back rose and fell in a measured rhythm
that looked like sleep. She’d come with the idea that they would talk
like friends, but now she wondered why she thought she could help
him. She could barely hang on herself.

She wanted to call to him—to ask what was wrong—but then

he’d know she’d been watching him. He might not like that she’d
seen him so vulnerable. Guys could be that way. She knew it from
watching her older brother, Luke, fly into a rage if she ever
suggested he was anything but steely and unemotional.
Almost as though he sensed her presence, Tom lifted his head.
His red-rimmed eyes were swollen.
Gwen backed away slowly, once again forcing the scratching
hedges to part and let her through. There was nothing she could do.
Heading back toward the old, wooden house with its warped
structure and blistered paint, Gwen saw that the kitchen’s too-bright
overhead light had been turned on. Luke was there, pacing rapidly,
talking on his cell phone. Gwen’s shoulders tightened. Something in
his movements told her he was in one of his states.

She paused several feet from the back door, and considered
scrambling up to the low roof behind the house and getting into her
bedroom that way, avoiding Luke altogether. When he was like this,
he always picked a fight, and she was in no mood to fight with him.

On the other hand, why should she have to duck her own
brother? She resented it. I’m not hiding from him, she decided
defiantly.
Luke was turned toward the wall, talking. Maybe she could slip
past him. But he clicked off his call and turned toward her the
moment she stepped into the kitchen. “Where’ve you been?” he
shouted, scrutinizing her with sharp, dark eyes.
Warily, Gwen assessed the situation. Luke wasn’t slurring or
weaving. That was a good sign. His eyes didn’t seem bloodshot,
either—also a positive. Ever since Leila had skipped out on them—
they never referred to their mother as anything but Leila—back in
Gwen’s freshman year of high school, she’d been dependent on
Luke, who’d been a senior back then. He made the money, though
what he did to earn it, she never really knew, and was glad not to
know.

“I went to Paris, but I just now flew back on my jet,” Gwen

snapped at Luke.
“That’s hysterical,” he grunted sarcastically.

Due to the rising price of gasoline, a flight from New York to

Paris cost thousands of dollars. And right now, if things kept going
the way they were going, they wouldn’t be able to afford the amount
of gas it took to get to school. For them, Paris was as far away as the
moon.

“If you’re going to go out,” Luke said, “turn off your fan. And
your lights.”
Everything counted. That was what they were learning. No
matter how small, everything counted.
“I’m sorry,” Gwen said. But really, the only thing she was sorry
about was that she was alive in this place, at this time. And that even
when she wanted to say something that might somehow make
things better, she never knew how.
CHAPTER 2

Two weeks later, Tom Harris stood in his driveway staring into the
engine of his dad’s Ford pickup and tried to remember the last time
it had been turned on. He knew for certain that it hadn’t been run all
summer.
The hoses looked all right. Maybe he just needed to clean the
jets and replace the filter. He hoped the problem wasn’t the catalytic
converter. He didn’t know how to fix that himself and, if he had to
bring it in, the repair would cost more money than he had.
Carlos Hernandez strolled over from across the street. “Hey, buddy.
How you be?”
Tom shrugged. “This thing starts, but it conks out on me and I
can’t figure out why.”
Carlos let out a low whistle. “You don’t want that happening
while you’re on the highway.” He leaned in and jiggled the battery
cables. “Could you be shorting out here?”
“It’s possible, I guess,” Tom allowed, bending forward for a
closer look.
“I’m surprised it’s running at all,” Carlos remarked, looking the
brown truck up and down. “You don’t see gas guzzlers like these
anymore. Why not turn this in for a hybrid or an electric?”
“It was my dad’s. Besides, we don’t have money for a new car,”
Tom replied. “I hear there’s a guy downtown who will convert an old
engine like this and make it more fuel efficient. I think his name is
Artie. He does it in a garage behind Ghost Motorcycle, I think.”
“The place where all those bikers hang out?”
“Yep.”
“How much does that cost?” Carlos asked, his rolling eyes
implying that it would be expensive.
Tom shrugged. “Who knows? But at twenty bucks a gallon, it
might be worth it.”
“And the price is getting higher every
day,” Carlos added. “It might be worth it to have the car refitted. No
joke.”
“I never can understand why gas prices are so high. Didn’t the
oil companies get the go-ahead to start drilling in Alaska?”
“Yeah, and they convinced everybody that they had hit the
mother lode. Alaska was going to be the new Saudi Arabia. But there
wasn’t as much oil there as they thought. It’s almost run out.
Somebody at the top made a bundle, I’m sure.”
It had happened quicker than anybody thought it could—
country by country, well by well, the oil had started to dry up. It was
right in front of everybody’s faces, but they pretended it wasn’t
happening. They still tried to drive everywhere. They still cranked
up their heat in winter and air-conditioning in summer. Reserves
were depleted. Alaska was drilled. The price went higher and higher.
And while rich people—really rich people—could still afford to get
places, the crunch got tighter and tighter on everyone else. Tom
didn’t like to think about it—because there wasn’t all that much he
could do about it. Except, he guessed, fixing up the truck.
Tom returned his attention to the engine.

“Do you really think you can get this thing to run?” Carlos asked.

“I have to. I’m going to need wheels if I ask out Niki Barton,
which is my goal for this year.”
“Whoa! Aiming kinda high, aren’t you?”
“You think she’s out of my league?”
“Maybe.”
Tom shoved Carlos just hard enough to make him totter
backward a few steps.
“Sorry, man, but she is,” Carlos insisted with a smile. “Totally
out of your league.”
“I’m on the football team,” Tom defended himself.
“Yeah, but you’re just now getting onto varsity. Her last
boyfriend was already a varsity quarterback junior year. He’s bound
to be captain this year.”
“So? The guy can play football, big deal.”
“Very big,” Carlos agreed pointedly.
“Anyway, they broke up,” Tom said. “She doesn’t see him
anymore, so it doesn’t matter.”
They turned to look at a girl with black, spiky hair slouching
down the sidewalk with a tall, gangly boy. Both of them wore baggy
khaki shorts. The girl’s black T-shirt was ripped along the bottom
hem. The boy’s hair was shaven except for a strip of electric green
down the middle.
“When did she dye her hair black?” Carlos asked in a low voice.
“I don’t remember it looking like that last year.”
Tom cast Carlos a puzzled look. “Do we know her?”
 “That’s Gwen Jones. She’s been in your grade ever since you got
here.”
Tom studied her as best he could from the corner of his eye.
“Oh, yeah. I recognize her now. Did she change her hair or
something?”
“I just told you she did!”
Gwen had reached the driveway and glanced up at them. “Hey,”
Carlos said, acknowledging her with a nod.
“Hey,” she mumbled, then ducked her head down as though not
wanting to be forced into further conversation.
“That girl is seriously spooky,” Carlos said once Gwen was out
of earshot. “I heard a rumor that her mother ran off with some guy a
few summers ago and left Gwen with her older brother. I also heard
that her mother is a drug addict who never comes out of the house,
and that’s why nobody ever sees her. I don’t know which story is
actually true.”
“What about the father?”
“I don’t think anybody ever knew him.”
“Who’s the guy with her?”
“Hector something or other. He’s homeschooled, I think.”
“Her boyfriend?”
“Yeah. I think so. I mean, they do look like a set, don’t they?”
They both stared back into the engine another moment. “I’m
going to get a new air filter and see if that helps,” Tom
concluded.
“Want to go down to Lake Morrisey later? A bunch of us are
going to swim. I still have room in my car.”
 Tom considered it. Niki Barton had a house on the lake. If she
was there, he might run into her. He’d get a sense if she might
possibly agree to go out with him, before he actually asked her.

He pictured Niki: so slim, but with just the right amount of

curves, her straight blond hair swinging around her gracefully
athletic shoulders. But there was no guarantee she’d show up, and
he didn’t want to be around a lot of people right now.
“Naw, I don’t think I’ll come,” he told Carlos.
These days, just getting out of bed and maybe checking out the
truck was as much as he could manage. His dad’s death had hit him
hard, even though he’d known for months that the cancer was
winning. “Another time,” he added.
Carlos draped his arm across Tom’s shoulders. “Okay. Glad to
see you up and around again, anyway. You know how really sorry I
am, right? Your dad was a great guy.”
“He was,” Tom agreed. “At least he’s not in pain anymore.
Thanks for coming to the funeral and all.”
“Yeah, of course.” Walking backward, Carlos headed toward his
house. “I’ll go get that air filter with you tomorrow, if you want. And
you’ve got about twenty minutes to change your mind about the
lake.”
“Okay.”
Tom stood a moment gazing absently at the truck’s engine. The
thing probably wasn’t worth fixing. But his dad had said he wanted
Tom to have it. The truck and the old sailboat he kept in the storage
shed down at the lake—they were the two things that he specifically
gave to Tom. The rest went to Tom’s mother. It was only the two of
them now.
Tom went back to his house through the side door. The TV was
on in the family room off the kitchen, and he could see his mother
on the couch watching it. Stepping into the room, he looked at the
screen.
The president, Jeffrey Waters, was at a podium giving a speech.
“What’s going on?” Tom asked.
“We’re at war, or about to be,” his mother replied.
“With who?”
“Venezuela.”
“Venezuela?”
“Yeah. Didn’t you see the headlines?” Tom’s mother said,
pointing to the laptop on the coffee table. “Take a look.”

NORTH COUNTRY NEWS

U.S. Troops Headed for Venezuela

Long-standing political tensions between the United States and

the oil-producing country of Venezuela stretched to the breaking
point in the last week.
Venezuela was a founding member of the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries, known as OPEC. When five of
OPEC’s original eleven members dropped out of the organization,
it was due to the fact that oil fields in the Middle East were
running dry at an alarming rate. With the advent of horizontal
drilling techniques, the Middle East experienced a brief upsurge
in production, but it was only a temporary reprieve. Venezuela,
once the world’s eighth-largest crude oil exporter, became a
petroleum kingmaker.

The opening of the Alaskan territory to unregulated drilling

allowed world markets to stabilize. However, the recent
announcement that these Alaskan fields are reaching—or have
already reached—complete depletion has rocked the worldwide
stock exchange and driven the price of oil to a record $500 a
barrel in recent days. It has also boosted America’s consumption
of Venezuelan oil from roughly 20 percent to 60 percent over the
last year. This rise in imported Venezuelan oil is also due, in part,
to the exhaustion of Canadian oil fields and oil sludge found in
sandbanks. Up until this year, Canada was the world’s second-
largest supplier of oil.

In a speech this morning, President Jeffrey Waters called

Venezuela’s latest bid to raise its oil price to $800 a barrel an act
of aggression that amounted to “an attempt at a bloodless
takeover of our country” and said he would not let the United
States be “held hostage by this price gouging.” To this remark,
Venezuelan president Hector Rodriguez replied, “I am simply
exercising my country’s right within a free market to set its own
price. Take our price or go elsewhere.”

The irony of this remark was not lost on President Waters,

who in his speech recalled that when OPEC was first formed, its
purpose was to keep prices of abundant oil from dipping too low.
The idea that there was any place left for the United States to go
for its oil, he said, “would be laughable, if it weren’t so insulting.”
The United States and Venezuela remain at a stalemate, with
Venezuela threatening a total oil embargo if the United States
does not withdraw its forces from the area. An additional
condition set by President Rodriguez is that the U.S. must
withdraw troops that stand poised to seize oil refineries that
supply American companies. He threatened to attack the 149 oil
refineries that remain in the United States should there be any
aggression against the Venezuelan refineries.

“War is inevitable,” international security analyst Wanda

Schaffer said in an interview with the North Country News. “It is
costing us hundreds of billions of dollars to maintain a military
presence in South America—primarily because of the cost of fuel.
They’re notcoming back until they have their fuel. At eight
hundred dollars a barrel, the United States will not be able to have
its armed forces—or anything else.”
Gas and oil are two non-renewable resources, and it is bound to disappear someday. But what if it
happens now?

Reading Empty made me paranoid in a lot of ways, and I am no better than those people in the book. I
wouldn't know what to do when I wake up one day and realize that the world is falling apart because
there is no gas.

Gas. It seemed so simple. Why would losing Gas be a big deal? But then as you read the book, you will
realize how important it is. Power plants use gas. There won't be any electricity when the plants don't
work because they don't have gas. No air conditioning on summer, no heater on winter. No phones, no
tablets, no electronic devices because you won't be able to charge the batteries if you don't have power
in your house. Without gas, vehicles wouldn't work. Trucks wouldn't be able to bring food and important
supplies anywhere. People won't be able to eat. People will die because they can't take their pills and
prescriptions.

And what is more important than food and medicines? How about losing oil?

Then you realize how many products are made with oil, and losing all of them is unthinkable. See what
happens when something you depend on suddenly disappears? People start to become desperate, and
with desperation comes chaos.
 Empty Chapter 2 Questions

1. Whose P.O.V is present during this chapter? How much time has passed since the
last chapter?

2. Why might “gas guzzlers” have become a thing of the past? Give your reasons.

3. Who is downtown and in what way could he fix Tom’s truck?

4. What has been happening in Alaska? Why might this be considered a short term solution
versus a long term solution for energy?

5. “It was right in front of everybody’s faces, but they pretended it wasn’t happening.”p7

What did people pretend wasn’t happen? Why might Tom have felt helpless in this
situation? If you had been in Tom’s position do you think you could have done something?

6. “Somebody at the top made a bundle, I’m sure.”p7

What is Carlos Hernandez implying with this statement? What does his statement
say about the treatment of non-renewable resources by those “at the top”?

7. Who is Niki Barton to Tom?

8. Explain what the phrase “Out of your league” (p 8) means. How does this apply to Tom’s
situation?

9. What sentimental reason has Tom been holding onto an old truck and a sailboat?

10. What rumours about Gwen are false? Do you think any of them could be true? Use facts
from chapters 1-2 to back up your case.

11. In the news article how has the drilling of oil in Venezuela affected the United States
dependency on oil? Why has this lead to war?
 12. What does “reaching a stalemate” (p13) mean? How does it apply to the situation in the
newspaper article?

13. Use the descriptions of Gwen, her brother, and Niki in chapter 2 for your Character chart.
What might these physical traits say about the character’s personalities?

Empty Chapter 2 Vocabulary:

Efficient

Convert

Bundle

Reserves

Depleted

League

Varsity

Funeral

Absently

Storage

Podium

Tension

Upsurge

Advent

Reprieve

Stabilize
Gouging

Abundant

Embargo

Scooby Doo Chapter 8

1.)Where is Gus?

2.)Describe how Scooby looks as Mr.Dooberini

3.)What happened when Fred and Shaggy threw the piano cover?

4.)How did Scooby catch the ghost?

5.)Who do you think the trapped ghost in the curtain might be? Give
your reasons why based on what you’ve read in this chapter.
 Empty Chapter 3 Vocabulary:

Goosebumps

Manicured

Optimist

Strategy

Water Skier

Salifish

Commuted

Football jersey

Monotony

Deft

Eagerness

Nonchalance

Descended

Feigned

Raucous

Strenuous
Registered

Gaseous

Undulated
Empty Chapter 3 Questions

1. Describe Niki Barton. (her appearance/personality)

2. What kind of environment does Niki live in? What type of a social life does
she lead? Why might this influence her personality?

3. What types of items do you think Niki owns that other people her age in
the story are going without?

4. What kind of boats does Niki believe are rare?

5. P16 “It wouldn’t suite her image at all to come frolicking down like some
excited puppy to play with any new company”
i) What type of literary device is being used? What is meant by this
statement? What does it reveal about the type of person Niki is?

6. What do you think Niki means by second stringer and B-team types?

7. What is Tom’s mother so “freaked out” about? How does Niki react to this?
Do you think this will affect the two characters?

8. How is the sign at the gas station ironic considering Tom and Niki’s
situation?

9. Do you consider Niki Barton to be an optimist in this chapter? Why or why

not?
 10.Who is in the motorcycle coming towards Niki and Tom? What imagery is
given that determine this answer?

Empty Chapter 4 Vocabulary:

Hoarded

Idled

Phony

Stranded

Recognition

Disdainful

Quirking

Peel

Desperate

Scornful

Constellation

Inadvertent

Reverie

Aggravated

Tantalizing
 Empty Chapter 4 Questions

1.) Why might Gwen not want Tom to know where she lives?

2.) What type of people do you think Luke does business with? Give proof.

3.) What type of hard-to-get items does Gwen list that are made of oil?

4.) Why does Gwen not want to sell Niki nail polish remover? What proof from
the novel is given for this reason?

5.) Why is Luke using a match?

6.) Why does he wish he lived next to a “nuclear generator?”

7.) Describe the kind of silence Gwen experiences on pg 26. Why has this
suddenly happened?

8.) What does this silence cause Gwen to notice about her surroundings?
 9.) Who bumps into Gwen? How does she know them?

10.) How does Gwen react to the war in Venezuela? How is her response
similar/different from Niki’s reaction in chapter 2?

Empty Chapter 5 Vocabulary:

Cease-fire:

Lithium

Stall

Initiative

Conspiratorial

Routines

Canister

Cruising

Milling

Fumes

Delusional

Formidable

Reunions

Frieghters

Bioengineering

Hydro-carbons

Refined
Bluffing

Dread

Reliable

Luxurious
Empty Chapter 5 Questions

1. What is meant by a “post-petroleum era?” How has Bolivia’s high prices stalled the U.S’s
hybrid-car initiative?

2. How has the lack of oil affected the education system at the characters’ school? Give
examples.

3. What news from the radio can’t Carlos and Tom wait to get?

4. What gives away the fact that Gwen has oil in reserve. Give supporting details for this.

5. Why is there no cafeteria?

6. Who is Mr. Curtin? Why is he making a root cellar? How might it be a good idea?

7. “We all should have seen it coming” pg 41

What does Mrs. Curtin means by this? Give examples. Do you agree with her or do you agree
with Tom in that “nobody did?” Explain why.

8. Why is it ironic to “gear up nuclear and wind-power facilities?”pg 42

9. Describe Tom’s view on the oil crisis after talking to Mr. Curtin. How is it similar to
Niki’s?

10. Why are things much better in Marietta than in Sage Valley?

11. What does Tom mean by “…not these people.” pg 44

Empty Chapter 6 Questions

1. In the news article what does Alice of Sage Valley claim is unfair?

2. What type of gasoline is the Mariette Shell selling?

3. What reason is Nikki’s father coming home early? Explain why.

4. What has all the propane gas gone towards?

5. How does Nikki act towards her parents?

6. How does Nikki’s home situation affect her behaviour towards Tom?

7. What did Nikki not bring with her to the bonfire? Why might it have been a good
idea to have brought it?

8. Who does Nikki bump into when Tom leaves? What is their relationship?
 9. What did the rival football team ‘the Mariners’ do to their cars? How?

10. What sentence does Nikki hear at the end of the chapter? How could this be
considered a ‘cliffhanger’?

Empty Chapter 6 Vocabulary:

Residents

Parlay

Tangible

Clogged

Priority

Careened

Embankment

Ransacked

Optometrist

Frustration

Downsizing

Unnerved

Dread

Contagious

Desperate

Guidance

Taunt
Heckled

Hostility

Barbs

Siphoned

Indistinct

Empty Chapter 7 Vocabulary:

Propped

Sustainable

Alternator

Fabrication

Furnace

Raucously

Hilarity

Dismissively

Canisters

Arrested

Foster Care

Vapour

Inherited

Abandonment
Enraged

Curse

Sarcasm

Kidding

Credit

Faith

Empty Chapter 7 Questions

Remember to always give proof from the book.

1. What book is Gwen reading? Why might this title be considered ironic with
the way people like to use up unrenewable resources?

2. Why is Gwen fascinated by solar energy?

3. What does Gwen want to do after reading the article: History of the Wind
Turbine? List a reason why it might work and why it might not.

4. When Luke returns home what does he bring with him? Why does he
believe he’ll make a “bundle?”

5. What is Foster care? Why does Gwen believe she’ll go to one if Luke gets
arrested?

6. Who does Gwen think of as she looks at the stars? Why does this person
make her angry?

7. Look up and explain the phrase “asleep at the wheel.” What might Luke
mean by this expression?

8. Why did Gwen stop talking to her friends?

 9. Describe Tom’s appearance. What happened to him?

10. Who does Tom want to see and why? Why does this bother Gwen?

11. What does Gwen do for Tom? Do you think her actions will later affect the
story? Why or why not?

Empty Chapter 8 Vocabulary:

Refineries
Decried
Speculate
Approximately
Baleful
Cringed
Bleak
Gash
Revved
Gouge
Revulsion
Residue
Camaraderie
Scornfully
Scrutinized
Mesmerized

Empty Chapter 8 Questions

Remember to always give proof from the book.

1. In the News why are the Venezuelans bluffing?

2. What reasons would the police be looking for Tom?

3. What made Gwen look suspicious to the police officer? What did
the officer check her breath for? Why?

4. Who was the one that saved Tom from further injury when he as
fighting the Marietta boys? What is Tom hoping his Sage Valley
friends will share when being questioned by police? Why?

5. As Tom and Gwen reach her house what do they see? How does
the firefighter react to Tom’s question?

6. What does the firefighter mean by “fire trap?”

 7. Given Gwen’s home situation why might she not be so upset by
everything that’s been happening?

8. Why does Gwen wish to disappear?

Empty Chapter 9 Vocabulary:

Ogled

Hospitalization

Devastated

Urgently

Evacuate

Crooned

Console

Dashboard

Reacquainted

Meltdown

Meteorologists

Hurricane

Inconceivable

Anxiety
Emanated

Cautiously

Panic

Stock investment

Empty Chapter 9 Questions

Remember to always give proof from the book.

1. What nice gesture did Niki do for Stephy? Why might this seem out of
character for her?

2. How are the people of Sage Valley using their cellphones? Explain some
reasons why.

3. What did Stephy get punished for doing in school?

4. How does Niki react to Tom’s unanswered cellphone messages? Why?

5. What is Niki’s home situation like?

6. What has been going on in the news? How will the lack of oil effect what
will happen next?

7. Why are all the lights out in Niki’s house?

8. Do you think Sage Valley would be prepared for a ‘super hurricane’? Why
or why not?

9. What does ‘curfew’ mean? How does it apply to the newspaper article?

10. After the events of this chapter how do you now feel about Niki’s
character? Remember to back up your reasons from proof from the book.