Paddy’s gang get into a variety of mischievous scrapes. What are they doing when we first meet them?
Coming home after stealing from a building site.
Breaking into the school.
Shoplifting.
What does Paddy’s mother do when Sinbad loses a shoe?
She laughs and forgives him.
She punishes him.
She pretends not to hear him.
When Paddy tells his parents he wants to be a missionary, how do they react?
They are united in pride.
They argue.
They ignore him.
Paddy says of his father, “he was mad sometimes, brilliant mad”. What prompts him to say this?
Mr Clarke has bought a new car.
Mr Clarke comes home drunk.
Mr Clarke buys Paddy a book signed by George Best.
Ian McEvoy runs into a wire near the new social housing developments and hurts himself badly. Paddy’s friends blame the boys from the new Corporation houses being built and Paddy describes them snootily as "Slum scum". How does his mother react?
She does not approve of this term and is angry with him.
She agrees with Paddy.
She has so little interest in what he is saying that she doesn’t react at all.
The gang go shoplifting, but Paddy’s mother catches them. She tells his father. What happens to Paddy as a consequence?
Paddy’s father hits him with a belt as punishment.
Paddy’s father thinks it’s funny and pats him on the head.
Paddy’s father chases him down the street.
Who says of whom that he “wasn’t as easy to control as he used to be”?
Paddy of Kevin
Paddy’s father of Paddy
Paddy of Sinbad
What happens in class to Paddy that sees him taken to the headmaster’s office?
He is cheeky to Henno, his teacher.
He has a fight with Kevin.
He falls asleep during the lesson.
Read this extract.
I wanted to help him. He had to know; he had to get ready like me. I wanted to be able to stand beside him. He was warm. I wanted to get him ready. I was ahead of him; I knew more than he did.
Who is speaking of whom?
Paddy of Liam
Paddy says this towards the end of the book, “The only bit I missed was the talking, not having anyone to talk to. I liked talking.”
What is he referring to?
Being ignored by Sinbad.
Being ignored by his parents.
Being shunned by his friends.