72 pages • 2 hours read
The Ten Thousand Doors of January
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During Reading
Reading Questions & Paired Texts
Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.
CHAPTER 1
Reading Check
1. What club is Locke the head of?
2. What becomes January’s most prized possession after her adventure with the Door?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the novel to support your response.
1. Which details from the trip to Western Kentucky make it clear that January longs for adventure?
2. How does Locke react to January’s revelation about stepping through the Door?
3. How does January’s behavior when her father returns highlight the changes in her character that have occurred following the adventure with the Door?
Paired Resources
“Liminal Space: What Is It and How Does It Affect Your Mental Health?”
- This article from Forbes explains the concept of liminal spaces and offers insight into the psychology of the transitions they represent.
- This resource relates to the theme of Maintaining Power Through Subjugating Others.
- How do portal fantasies use a physical liminal space to indicate a psychological liminal space? What important psychological transition is January going through? How might it be especially damaging to a young person to be shamed and frightened for trying to move forward into this transitional period?
“Behind the Fairy Door: A Look at Fairy Lore in Nova Scotia”
- This CBC article explores the tradition of fairy doors in Nova Scotia.
- In what sense are fairy doors an example of a portal fantasy? Why do some in Nova Scotia warn that others should be careful about opening a door to fairies? Does January seem concerned about the possible dangers of opening the Door she finds? How does her reaction to the door characterize her?
CHAPTER 2
Reading Check
1. When January is 12 and asks Julian if she can go with him on a business trip, what reason does he give for denying her?
2. How does Havemeyer insult both January and Jane at the annual Society party?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the novel to support your response.
1. What is January’s reaction to seeing the Society members in London when she is nine?
2. How does the incident with Sinbad’s adoption hint that there is something out of the ordinary about January’s writing?
3. Why does January assume that the book The Ten Thousand Doors is a gift from Locke?
CHAPTERS 3-4
Reading Check
1. What does Locke offer January as a gift for her 17th birthday?
2. What does Locke do before Jane can discuss The Ten Thousand Doors with January?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the novel to support your response.
1. How does Locke use January as an example of how the Society’s mission can be fulfilled?
2. What New Orleans incident reported by the author of The Ten Thousand Doors echoes the London incident from January’s own life?
3. What causes January to realize that Locke has a cruel side?
CHAPTERS 5-6
Reading Check
1. Who writes January a note urging her to “[h]old on”?
2. When January cannot find anything to write on, where does she write the words, “The door opens for her” (Chapter 6)?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the novel to support your response.
1. When Havemeyer visits January at Battleboro, what indication is there that Havemeyer has some kind of supernatural power?
2. From reading Chapter 4 of The Ten Thousand Doors, what does January learn about her own origin and the origin of her name?
3. How do three of Havemeyer’s fingers end up on the floor of the Zappia cabin?
CHAPTERS 7-8
Reading Check
1. What kind of women lived in the world where Jane lived as a young orphan?
2. Who is really giving January the gifts that she finds in the trunk?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the novel to support your response.
1. Why does Jane shoot Havemeyer?
2. Why does Julian keep the location of one Door a secret?
3. What motivated Jane to finally return to Earth?
Paired Resources
“How Looted Artifacts Impede Our Understanding of History”
- This CBC article explores the ramifications of looting artifacts, particularly under colonial rule.
- This resource relates to the theme of Maintaining Power Through Subjugating Others.
- According to this article, why do museums persist in holding onto artifacts when the nations of origin want the artifacts back? When there is good evidence that this belief is erroneous, why do you imagine these museums—and the cultures that support them—cling to the “rescue narrative”? How do the story the New England Archeological Society tells about its motivations for collecting artifacts and destroying Doors compare? What evidence suggests that Julian does not believe that what the Society is doing is right?
“Fantasy Has Always Been About Race”
- This Harper’s Bazaar article critiques contemporary arguments over casting nonwhite actors in fantasy roles and makes the point that questions about race are fundamental to the genre itself.
- This resource relates to the theme of Maintaining Power Through Subjugating Others.
- In what sense is race a fundamental issue in the construction of fantasy worlds? How do portal fantasies offer even richer opportunities to discuss race than do texts in other fantasy genres? How does Harrow make use of this opportunity?
CHAPTERS 9-10
Reading Check
1. What characteristic do all of the Arcadia residents have in common?
2. What does January take from Ilvane after she stabs him?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the novel to support your response.
1. Why do the residents of Arcadia sometimes travel through the Door to Earth, and how do they try to minimize the danger of doing so?
2. What does Ilvane tell January that causes her to fall to her knees in relief?
3. What does January realize about wealth and race when she returns to Earth?
Paired Resource
“Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?”
- One of Shakespeare’s most well-known sonnets, Sonnet 18 makes claims about the power of both love and poetry.
- This resource relates to the themes of Love as a Means of Empowerment and The Power of Words.
- To whom is the speaker addressing this sonnet? What claim does the speaker make about the power of their love? What is implied about the power of words? Do you agree that love and words have great power, or do you think either the poem or the novel are exaggerating?
CHAPTERS 11-12
Reading Check
1. When Lizzie opens the door, for whom does she mistake January?
2. For whom does January take a bullet during her confrontation with Locke in the hayfield?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the novel to support your response.
1. When January learns that the date of the property buyer’s visit coincided with her own visit to Kentucky, what conclusion does she reach?
2. Why does January leave Lizzie’s place so abruptly?
3. When she confronts Locke in the hayfield, what does January learn about his magical powers?
CHAPTER 13-EPILOGUE
Reading Check
1. Whom does January discover in the stone house?
2. Whose perspective is the Epilogue focused on?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the novel to support your response.
1. What is January’s purpose in writing The Ten Thousand Doors?
2. Where is January when Chapter 13 ends, and what is her mission?
3. In the book’s Epilogue, what near-future plan does January reveal?
Recommended Next Reads
The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
- In this YA portal fantasy, 17-year-old Alice Proserpine must enter the Hinterland, the darkly mysterious setting of her grandmother’s popular books, to rescue her abducted mother.
- Shared themes include The Power of Words, Maintaining Power Through Subjugating Others, and Love as a Means of Empowerment.
- Shared topics include portal fantasy, missing parents, adventure, romance, and storytelling.
- The Hazel Wood on SuperSummary
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
- In this New Adult portal fantasy, suitable for older readers of The Ten Thousand Doors of January, grad student Zachary Ezra Rawlins discovers an ancient underground sea that is the source of stories.
- Shared themes include The Power of Words, Maintaining Power Through Subjugating Others, and Love as a Means of Empowerment.
- Shared topics include portal fantasy, secret societies, adventure, romance, and storytelling.
- The Starless Sea on SuperSummary
Reading Questions Answer Key
CHAPTER 1
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. January runs away from her hotel room—not because Locke is cruel to her, but because she is yearning for an adventure. Additionally, adventure is what she immediately thinks of when she first sees the Door; she even writes a story about it in her diary. Finally, it is her desire for adventure that prompts her to actually step through the strange Door. (Chapter 1)
2. He seems to be angry or fearful, throwing January’s diary into the field and telling her to stop believing in such nonsense. It is implied that he later sneaks back and burns the Door. When they return home, Locke and Wilda lock January in her room for several days, and he warns January to never again speak about Doors or any curious, otherworldly things. (Chapter 1)
3. When Julian returns from his latest business trip, January does not run to him as she always did in the past, and she does not share the story of the Door with him. (Chapter 1)
CHAPTER 2
Reading Check
1. His trips are too dangerous for a child. (Chapter 2)
2. He insults them because of the color of their skin. (Chapter 2)
Short Answer
1. The Society members make January unaccountably uneasy. There is nothing overtly suspicious about them, but she gets the feeling that there is something off about them, and she thinks that they seem like something nonhuman that is only masquerading as human. (Chapter 2)
2. After Locke refuses permission for January to keep the puppy, she writes a story about a girl who meets and becomes best friends with a “bad” dog. As if her writing is causing things to happen, Locke reverses his decision the next day and allows January to keep Sinbad. (Chapter 2)
3. January assumes that the book is a gift from Locke because she finds it in the trunk where she has found gifts from him in the past, and because she thinks he would have given her a present like this to comfort her following the news of her father’s likely death. (Chapter 2)
CHAPTERS 3-4
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. Locke indicates that the mission of the Society is to improve humanity. He says that January is an example of “the power of positive influences.” (Chapter 3)
2. When Yule Ian finds the New Orleans Door that Ade used, someone burns the Door down before Yule has a chance to try to use it. This is similar to when January found her own first Door burned down. (Chapter 1 of The Ten Thousand Doors of January and Chapter 2 of The Ten Thousand Doors)
3. When Locke is questioning her about the Doors, his demeanor, tone, and words are menacing, and January sees that he has a cruel side. This is confirmed when he confines her to an asylum. (Chapter 4)
CHAPTERS 5-6
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. When Havemeyer touches January, she is drained of warmth and feels weak and numb. She continues to feel the chill for several hours afterward. (Chapter 5)
2. Ade and Yule are her mother and father, and they named her January after Janus, the god of doorways and in-between places. (Chapter 4 of The Ten Thousand Doors)
3. As Havemeyer tries to follow January into the cabin, she adds the word “just” to what she has written on her arm. With the sentence changed to “[t]he Door opens just for her,” the Door closes on Havemeyer, severing three of his fingers (189). (Chapter 6)
CHAPTERS 7-8
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. Havemeyer has taken Samuel hostage and is threatening serious harm to him unless January surrenders and agrees to go with Havemeyer. Killing him saves both Samuel and January. (Chapter 7)
2. Julian did not notice for a long time that the Doors were being destroyed after he used them. Just in case, Julian keeps the location of one Door secret so that if something happens to him Jane and January have a way to escape. (Chapter 6 of The Ten Thousand Doors)
3. After Julian warned her that the Doors were being destroyed and urged her to return to Earth while she was still able to, Jane decided to return to Earth at least temporarily in order to find her sister. (Chapter 8)
CHAPTERS 9-10
Reading Check
1. They are all runaways. (Chapter 9)
2. His compass (Chapter 10)
Short Answer
1. The residents of Arcadia need some things from Earth in order to survive; they travel through the Door using a magic feather that renders them invisible so they cannot be followed. (Chapter 9)
2. Ilvane reveals what really happened to Julian: Ilvane shoved him through a Door and burned the Door to prevent Julian’s return to Earth. This causes January immense relief, because it means Julian may still be alive. (Chapter 9)
3. As January works and travels, she encounters racial prejudice worse than she ever experienced when traveling with Locke. She realizes that wealth can insulate people from some forms of prejudice. (Chapter 10)
CHAPTERS 11-12
Reading Check
1. Ade/January’s mother (Chapter 11)
2. Bad, her dog (Chapter 12)
Short Answer
1. The dates of her visit and the purchase of the hayfield cause January to realize that Locke is the one who bought the hayfield and closed the Door that might have been used to reunite January’s parents. (Chapter 11)
2. January suddenly realizes that Locke has a motive to track her and that he will understand from her letter that she has gone to Kentucky. She neither wishes to be caught nor endanger Lizzie, so she leaves quickly. (Chapter 11)
3. Locke has a magical persuasive ability and has used it throughout January’s childhood to subvert her will. He also has a cup with magical life-extending properties, and this has allowed him to live for 200 years, thus far. (Chapter 12)
CHAPTER 13-EPILOGUE
Reading Check
1. Her mother and grandparents (Chapter 13)
2. Samuel’s (Epilogue)
Short Answer
1. She is writing for the world in general, because if she cannot accomplish her life’s work, she does not want the memory of Doors to be lost. She is also writing specifically for Samuel, hoping to restore his memories so that Samuel and January can possibly be reunited. (Chapter 13)
2. January is on The Key, her mother’s boat, having decided to leave her parents behind so that she can find the Doors the Society closed and reopen them. (Chapter 13)
3. She is about to be the owner of Locke House, and her plan is to return all of the stolen objects it contains—hopefully, with Samuel’s help. (Epilogue)
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