The Old Willis Place

63 pages • 2 hours read

The Old Willis Place: A Ghost Story

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2004

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Introduction

Before Reading

During Reading

After Reading

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.

CHAPTERS 1-4

Reading Check

1. What is the actual name of the house people call “the old Willis place”?

2. What three possessions of Lissa’s do Georgie and Diana use after Lissa falls asleep?

3. What name does Lissa give to Nero?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why do Lissa Morrison and her father come to the old Willis place?

2. Why does Mr. Morrison not want Lissa to attend public school?

3. Why is Tedward so important to Lissa?

4. Why is Diana so crushed by Lissa’s response when she finally lets Lissa see her?

Paired Resource

“Alone”

This brief and approachable Maya Angelou poem expresses a belief that everyone needs friendship.
This resource relates to the theme of The Importance of Friendship.
What is important according to the speaker, and why? How does this message relate to the situations of the three children in the novel—Diana, Georgie, and Lissa?

CHAPTERS 5-8

Reading Check

1. What unusual animal watches Diana as she sneaks near to the trailer at night?

2. When Diana sees herself in a mirror, whom does she mistake herself for?

3. What item of clothing does Lissa offer Diana?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What upsetting realization does Diana come to when she reads Lissa’s diary?

2. Why does Diana enter the old Willis place?

3. What condition does Lissa place on becoming friends with Diana?

4. Why is it confusing for both Lissa and Diana when Diana says that her favorite actor is Roy Rogers?

Paired Resource

“Your Big Sister May Help Buffer the Effects of Stress“

This article discusses research into the protective effects of the sibling bond.
This resource relates to the theme of Sibling Loyalty.
What are the different ways that sibling relationships can help protect against stress? Does it sound like this has been true of Diana and Georgie’s relationship? What problems are starting in Georgie and Diana’s relationship? Do you think that either character is completely right or completely wrong?

CHAPTERS 9-12

Reading Check

1. Where does Diana beg Lissa not to go after she sees the key Lissa is holding?

2. Whom does Lissa believe caused her to open the parlor door?

3. Where were Georgie and Diana when they last saw their parents?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. When Diana tries to get Georgie to be friends with Lissa, what warning does Georgie give about the future?

2. What causes Diana to seek Lissa on the terrace on the day after she introduces Lissa to Georgie?

3. Once they are back in the trailer, how does Diana react to Lissa’s encounter with Miss Lillian?

4. How did Miss Lillian cause the deaths of Georgie and Diana?

Paired Resource

“5 Reasons Why It's Important to Let Go of the Past”

This Psychology Today article offers insight into the dangers of living in the past.
This resource relates to the theme of Forgiveness and Making Peace With the Past.
What are the benefits of making peace with the past and moving on with life? Which characters in The Old Willis Place might benefit from this advice? How does this motif in the story relate to the use of ghosts as characters?

“A Letter on Letting Go”

This 1-minute video features poet Aija Mayrock performing a spoken-word poem about moving on from the past.
This resource relates to the theme of Forgiveness and Making Peace With the Past.
Instead of focusing on the past, what outlook does Mayrock want to encourage? Would this advice be equally useful to the living and nonliving characters in the novel? What does this tell you about the urge to hold onto the past? How can fearing the unknowns in your future turn you into a kind of “ghost”?

CHAPTERS 13-17

Reading Check

1. What gift does Lissa bring to Diana and Georgie to try to make peace with them?

2. What gift does Diana bring Lissa when she goes to the trailer looking for Lissa?

3. Where does Miss Lillian’s ghost eventually corner Diana and Georgie when they are running away from her?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What do Georgie and Diana believe is keeping them trapped on the Willis property?

2. What does Mr. Morrison believe Macduff was howling at overnight, and what truth does Diana know about what was really happening?

3. What is so upsetting to Diana about the news regarding where Georgie’s body and hers will be buried?

4. After Miss Lillian tells Georgie and Diana about her stroke, what does Diana realize about their future?

Recommended Next Reads

All the Lovely Bad Ones by Mary Downing Hahn

When Travis and Corey spend the summer at their grandmother’s quiet Vermont Inn, they play a series of pranks to convince people the place is haunted. Little do they know that they are about to awaken the real ghosts of Fox Hill Inn.
Shared themes include The Importance of Friendship, Sibling Loyalty, and Forgiveness and Making Peace With the Past.
Shared elements include middle grades horror fiction, adventure, child ghosts, and haunted houses.
All the Lovely Bad Ones on SuperSummary

Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh

After a serious accident she struggles to fully remember, Harper’s family moves into an old house that is rumored to be haunted. When Harper’s younger brother, Michael, undergoes an unsettling personality change, Harper and her new friend Dayo investigate how the house’s history may be involved.
Shared themes include The Importance of Friendship, Sibling Loyalty, and Forgiveness and Making Peace With the Past.
Shared elements include middle grades horror fiction, adventure, child ghosts, and haunted houses.

Reading Questions Answer Key

CHAPTERS 1-4

Reading Check

1. Oak Hill Manor (Chapter 1)

2. Her bike, a book, and a teddy bear (Chapters 2 and 3)

3. Aladdin (Chapter 4)

Short Answer

1. Lissa Morrison and her father have come to Oak Hill Manor because Mr. Morrison has taken a job with the county as the property’s new caretaker. (Chapter 1)

2. Mr. Morrison believes that school is bad for children because it encourages them to be conformists who cannot think for themselves. (Chapter 2)

3. Tedward is a teddy bear that Lissa’s mother gave her shortly before she died. (Chapter 3)

4. Diana is hopeful that Lissa will accept her presence and even become a friend, but when Lissa sees Diana’s appearance, she gasps in horror and tells her dog to attack Diana. (Chapter 4)

CHAPTERS 5-8

Reading Check

1. An albino deer (Chapter 5)

2. Miss Lillian (Chapter 6)

3. Shoes (Chapter 7)

Short Answer

1. In the diary, Lissa describes Diana as being monstrous, filthy, and ragged. When Diana reads this, she realizes how much her appearance (and Georgie’s) has changed over time. (Chapter 5)

2. Diana wants to get the supplies she needs to clean up her appearance so that she can meet Lissa and prove that she is human. (Chapter 6)

3. Lissa tells Diana that they can only be friends if Georgie and Diana agree to return Tedward. (Chapter 7)

4. It is confusing for Lissa because she has never heard of Roy Rogers, who was popular a long time ago. It is confusing for Diana, because she has not really understood until this moment how long it has been since she and Georgie came to the farm. (Chapter 8)

CHAPTERS 9-12

Reading Check

1. Inside the Willis house (Chapter 10)

2. Miss Lillian (Chapter 11)

3. The front gate (Chapter 12)

Short Answer

1. Georgie tells the girls that something terrible is going to happen and that it will be Diana’s and Lissa’s fault. (Chapter 9)

2. When Diana wakes up, Georgie is gone. Eventually Diana gets very lonely waiting around for him to reappear, so she goes to find Lissa. (Chapter 10)

3. Diana tells Lissa that it is the siblings Miss Lillian is after, not Lissa. Diana then leaves to find Georgie, hoping to find him before Miss Lillian does. (Chapter 11)

4. Miss Lillian locked Diana and Georgie in the cellar and refused to let them out, and they eventually died. (Chapter 12)

CHAPTERS 13-17

Reading Check

1. A copy of Lassie Come Home (Chapter 13)

2. Her own copy of Clematis (Chapter 15)

3. The gate (Chapter 17)

Short Answer

1. They believe that they will be trapped there until someone finds their bodies and gives them a proper burial. (Chapter 14)

2. Mr. Morrison thinks that Macduff was howling at the wind, but Diana knows that the dog was really hearing Miss Lillian’s ghost. (Chapter 15)

3. When Mr. Morrison reveals that Diana and Georgie’s bodies will be buried with their parents’ bodies, it is the first time that Diana realizes her parents are dead. (Chapter 16)

4. When Diana realizes that Miss Lillian did not intentionally murder her and her brother, she decides that the only way for them all to leave Oak Hill Manor is to forgive one another. (Chapter 17)