Where the Red Fern Grows – Quiz Chapters 11-15
1. “Trapped indoors, I was as nervous as a fish out of water.” What figurative language is being used?
A. personification
B. idiom
C. simile
D. hyperbole
2. Billy’s grandpa tells him to not to “…underestimate the cunning of an old river coon….they can pull some
mean tricks on a hound. Sometimes the tricks can be fatal.” The author uses this dialogue to show…
A. foreshadowing
B. theme
C. flashback
D. symbolism
3. What happened to Little Ann while hunting after the blizzard/ice storm?
A. She caught a raccoon by herself.
B. She stopped to help Old Dan who had cut his paw.
C. She fell in the icy water.
D. She ran home because she was cold.
4. How did Old Dan react to Little Ann’s problem?
A. He ran home to get Billy’s dad.
B. He stopped his coon chase and “cried” to Billy to help her.
C. He kept chasing the coon.
D. He went in after her.
5. How did Billy rescue Little Ann?
A. He used a rope to pull her to him.
B. He held on to Old Dan, as Old Dan tugged her by the ears.
C. He carried a coon hide with him and used that to encourage her out.
D. He made a hook from his lantern and used it to pull her out by her collar.
6. Who or what did he thank for helping him save his dog?
A. his lantern
B. his ax
C. a canebrake
D. his Pa
7. The cold water on the Illinois River was “angry” and “…hissed and growled as it tore its way through the
channel.” This is an example of what figurative language?
A. idiom
B. metaphor
C. personification
D. hyperbole
8. Why is do the Pritchard boys call a coon the “ghost coon”?
A. because the coon is all white
B. because the coon haunts their barn
C. because it he coon is a legend
D. because he climbs trees and disappears
9. What bet does Billy’s grandpa make with the Pritchard boys?
A. $2 that Billy’s dogs could tree the ghost coon
B. tobacco plugs that Billy’s dog could tree the ghost coon
C. $5 that Billy’s dogs could catch five coons in one night
D. $2 that Billy’s dogs could catch ten coons in one night
10. Where did Little Ann find the ghost coon?
A. in the hayloft of a nearby barn
C. in a hole under an old stump
B. at the very top of an old oak tree
D. in the hollow part of an old gatepost
11. Why didn’t Billy want to kill the ghost coon?
A. He was worried it would hurt his dogs in the fight. B. He heard it cry like a small baby.
C. He was scared it would attack him.
D. He was tired and wanted to go home.
12. What happened to Rubin?
A. The coon bit him, and he later died of rabies.
C. He accidentally killed his dog.
B. He tripped and fell on the ax blade.
D. He drowned while in the river.
13. What surprise had Grandpa been planning for months?
A. He had entered Billy and his dogs in a championship coon hunt.
B. He told him that the coon furs had brought in so much money, they could go on a trip.
C. He had saved money for Billy and his family to move to town.
D. He needed to go to Tahlequah and wanted Billy to go with him.
14. “Little Ann would jump and bounce and try to get Old Dan to play, but the solemn old boy just jogged
along,…” What does this sentence tell you about Old Dan’s personality?
A. He is serious.
B. He is intelligent.
C. He likes to play with Ann.
D. He is mean.
15. What does Billy say is the one thing wrong with Little Ann?
A. She’s too playful.
B. She’s gun-shy.
C. She’s too intelligent.
D. She isn’t a good hunter.
16. What does the fact that Old Dan won’t eat before Little Ann does tell the reader about his personality?
A. He’s lazy and doesn’t want to get up to eat.
B. He’s worried that Little Ann is sick.
C. He can’t see well and needs her help.
D. He’s loyal and very close to her.
17. Why does Billy feel he’ll have bad luck during the contest?
A. because of a superstition about more than one owl hooting at night
B. because he drank coffee, and he’s really too young to do that
C. because his Mama was worried about him being in the contest
D. because the horses were acting restless and he knew something was wrong
18. Why does Billy begin to doubt that his dogs can win when he sees the other dogs?
A. The other dogs are huge.
B. Little Ann gets sick.
C. The other dogs are pure breeds.
D. His dogs look messy.
19. What does Billy use to groom his dogs?
A. butter and an old comb he found
C. Grandpa’s brush & comb and cooking oil
B. Grandpa’s brush & comb and butter
D. butter
20. “As I put my arms around her, the crowd exploded.” What figurative language is being used?
A. hyperbole
B. metaphor
C. simile
D. personification
Respond to each statement as either TRUE or FALSE.
21. Rubin refused to give the money back when Billy’s dogs found the ghost coon.
22. Billy took flowers and put them on Rubin’s grave.
23. Because he had too much work at the farm, Papa decided not to go to the contest.
24. Billy felt like a grown up when his Grandpa gave him a cup of coffee.
25. Little Ann got second place in the beauty contest.