Down the Rabbit Hole

by Peter Abrahams

Reviewed by Lily Chen

Fall 2016

REVIEW: Down The Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams

ISBN#: 0060737030

THE STORY:

Ingrid Levin-Hill , 13, recently moved to Echo Falls. She is a great soccer player and wants to be an actress. Her parents were late to pick her up at her orthodontist appointment, so she tries to find her way to soccer practice. She started to freak out when she was lost, a woman known as “Cracked Up Katie” noticed and offered Ingrid to come inside. Ingrid and Katie talked until the cab, that Katie called, came and picked her
up. The next morning, Ingrid came down stairs and looked at the heading to The Echo and read that Katie had died. She was horrified to tell anybody because she was the last person to see Katie, and she thinks that she would be the main suspect. She does not tell her parents because she would be questioned why she went into a stranger's house. Then she realized that she left something very important at Katie’s house. Ingrid leaves her house late that night to sneak into Katie’s house and secretly take back the item she lost so no one would see it and suspect her. Before she could leave the house, she dove under the bed because she heard footsteps. She got a good look at the man’s shoes, once he left, she raced out of the house and ran home. Then the day after, two men were arrested for the murder of Katie, and Ingrid knew they were innocent. From there on, she breaks in and out of Katie’s house to make things right and brings Katie’s killer to justice. (261)

MY OPINION:

When I started reading the first couple of pages, I was a little confused. It started out in a random spot when the main character was running. I had to read that page a few times until I finally realized what was going on. This happened to me on some other pages but the book started to make sense as I read. There were a lot of dashes in the middle of sentences which, also, got confusing. The book was slow at first but it slowly got more interesting as I went along. I could easily picture what was going on and where the characters were. The author had a few figurative language sentences, not a lot. Whenever I stopped reading, there would be some type of clue that would help the main character find the murderer. I could think of how the main character was feeling in a couple of sections, she was mostly scared and worried what would happen to her if she couldn’t find the item she left. There are some words that we do not use today, but that’s how you can tell what period of time the book is set in. Some of the word choices are different from what I would have picked, but that is what made this book difficult and made it eighth grade reading level. There are some swear words in this book, but they are not mean ones, they are not polite to say. Overall, I would give this book a seven and a half stars, I might read it again in the far future. (265)

STUDY QUESTIONS AND VOCABULARY:

FIRST SECTION

1. What made Ingrid remember where she left her red pumas?

1a. Ingrid saw the red veins in the ref’s eyes, which made her remember she left her soccer shoes at Cracked-Up-Katie’s house. (pg. 66)

2. What caused Ingrid to dive under Katie’s bed?

2a. Ingrid dove under the Katie’s bed because she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. (pg. 100)

3. Why did Ty get worked up when Ingrid brought up the “flea-flicker”?

3a. Ty got worked up about the “flea-flicker” because it reminded him that he might get kicked off the football team. (pg. 114)

4. What made Ty squirm when his mom walked in the door?

4a. Ty started to squirm because he was guilty of punching Ingrid’s eye, and he was worried that she might tell their mom. (pg. 124)

5. Why did Mrs. Groome changed Ingrid’s grade to an “F”?

5a. Ms. Groome changed Ingrid’s grade to an “F” because she thinks that Ingrid cheated because earlier that week, Ingrid had gotten the same score on her homework as her friend. They also got the same problem wrong with the exact same mistake. (pg. 133)

shambles (pg. 30)

jimmying (pg. 70)

palaver (pg. 76)

oblong (pg. 88)

cacophony (pg. 94)

MIDDLE SECTION

6. Why did Ingrid “snap her mouth shut”?

6a. Ingrid “snapped her mouth shut” because Chloe was looking at her braces and made a weird face. Which made Ingrid feel embarrassed. (pg. 199)

7. Why did Ingrid take Cracked-Up-Katie’s keys from her mom?

7a. Ingrid took Katie’s keys so she could search the house thoroughly. (pg. 201)

8. Why does Ingrid pretend she is sick?

8a. Ingrid pretended she was sick so she could investigate Katie’s home. (pg. 222)

9. Why did Ingrid say she had to do a report on Katie Kovac’s death?

9a. Ingrid said she had to do a report on Katie’s death so Mr. Samuels would not suspect anything. (pg. 230)

10. What made Ingrid run out of Mr. Samuels shop?

10a. Ingrid found a clue about what might have happened to Katie. (pg. 232)

ludicrous (pg. 181)

smoldering (pg. 189)

modesty (pg. 205)

unambiguous (pg. 212)

cynic (pg. 219)

                               

LAST SECTION

11. Why does Chief Strade ask Ingrid about what her soccer shoes looked like?

11a. Chief Strade asks Ingrid about her soccer cleats because he is getting suspicious about her. He knows that red is her favorite color, just like the soccer cleats in the murder. (pg. 241)

12. Why does Joey bring up the color of Ingrid’s shoes?

12a. Joey brings up the color of her shoes because he has seen he wear red cleats, and red is Ingrid’s signature color. Ingrid was wearing black cleats at the time. (pg. 277)

13. Why is Ingrid freaked-out when she sees Chief Strade and the taxi driver at the football game??

13a. Ingrid gets freaked-out when she sees Chief Strade and the taxi driver because that means she is in big trouble, or they are getting very suspicious of her. (pg. 293)

14. What key event gave Vincent what he wanted?

14a. The event that Vincent was helping Jill push/move the piano into a certain spot on the stage. Then Ingrid took over Jill’s spot and put down her Fresca. Her Fresca spilled and Vincent slipped losing his grip on the piano, then the piano rammed into Jill. Jill was sent to the hospital and Vincent took over the play production, he needed a key. (pg. 308 )

15. What made Ingrid decide to confess everything that had happened?

15a. Ingrid had to confess when Ty walked in with her red pummas, while she was talking to Chief Strade in the living room. (pg. 405)

blithering (pg. 237)

snick (pg. 247)

bluff (pg. 261)

flounced (pg. 267)

ornate (pg. 304)