Student Team Literature
Standardized Reading Practice Test
Johnny Tremain
(Yearling Newbery, 1987)
Reading Vocabulary
DIRECTIONS
Choose the word that means the same, or about
the same, as the underlined word. Circle the
letter for the answer you have chosen.
SAMPLE A
Feeble means the same as A stupid
B weak
C color blind
D irritable
5. Deft means -
A
B
C
D
hard of hearing
careless
stingy
skillful
6. A notorious person is -
F
G
H
J
famous for wrong-doing
famous for good deeds
bad-tempered
shy or fearful
7. Ferocious means the same as 1. A formidable person is -
A
B
C
D
shapely or attractive
wealthy
impressive or intimidating
stingy
2. A replica is -
F
G
H
J
an exact copy
a type of lizard
an antique
a clever answer
3. Abated means -
A
B
C
D
pestered or bothered
decreased or became less
circled
scolded
4. Nonchalantly means -
F
G
H
J
frantically, with great excitement
casually, without excitement
rapidly
with great feeling
A
B
C
D
cold; chilly
small; petite
cruel; fierce
amiable; pleasant
8. Another word for voluntary is -
F
G
H
J
willing; unforced
gentle; tender
forced
large
9. Instigated means the same as -
A
B
C
D
attended
hid; covered up
promised
brought about; started
10. To be oblivious is to be -
F
G
H
J
sad; regretful
unaware; unmindful
overweight
old-fashioned
Talent Development Secondary · Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland · 2012
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DIRECTIONS
Read the sentence in the box, then choose the
answer in which the underlined word is used in
the same way. Circle the letter for the answer
you have chosen.
SAMPLE B
Dusty worshiped Johnny and did not like
Dove, but he and Dove were bound
together by their common servitude to
Johnny’s autocratic rule.
In which sentence does the word bound
mean the same thing as in the sentence
above?
A Because they had known each other since
first grade, Marta and Elena were bound
together in deep friendship.
B With one quick bound, Jamal jumped up to
catch the basketball.
C Miguel’s pass was incomplete because he
threw the football out of bounds.
D Rosario was bound and determined to find
out who had stolen her tennis shoes.
11.
Aunt Best, a horrifyingly ugly, cross old
woman with two gold-headed canes, vowed
through her whiskers and toothless gums
that he looked just as bad as she had
expected.
In which sentence does the word cross mean
the same thing as in the sentence above?
A Father Sam wore a large gold cross over his
white robe during the church service.
B My little sister Isabella is not old enough to
cross the street by herself yet.
C When my mother is cross, she complains
about having to do so much housework.
D “Don’t cross me or you’ll be sorry,” the bully
growled, grabbing my jacket by the lapels.
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12.
And he wouldn’t take just any boy whose
father or mother wanted him to be a
silversmith. He’d pick and choose.
In which sentence does the word pick mean
the same thing as in the sentence above?
F Maya Angelou, author of several books,
wrote about having to pick cotton as a
child.
G I will pick JoAnn to serve as class president
because she is dependable, smart, and
easy to work with.
H The burglar tried to pick the lock on our
front door, but failed.
J My brother was angry about losing his
wallet, so he tried to pick a fight with me.
13.
“I’m not letting any old-fashioned, fussy
notions upset the best order we’ve had for
ten years,” Mrs. Lapham said.
In which sentence does the word order mean
the same thing as in the sentence above?
A The waitress took our order and
reappeared a few minutes later with two
heaping plates of food.
B Mrs. Yin liked to order her employees
about, demanding that they sweep the
floors or clean the shelves.
C Ramon put all Mr. Mendoza’s files in order
alphabetically.
D Father Xavier belongs to the Franciscan
order of priests.
14.
“Come on down here,” someone yelled, “and
we’ll settle that score tonight.”
In which sentence does the word score mean
the same thing as in the sentence above?
F The conductor looked at the score to make
sure the violins were playing the right
notes.
G Our team had to score a touchdown in the
last five minutes to tie the game.
H Margarita is not very forgiving, and tends to
keep score when her friends offend her.
J Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address
describes the passage of time poetically,
beginning, “Four score and seven years
ago…”
Talent Development Secondary · Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland · 2012
DIRECTIONS
As you read each sentence, use the other
words in the sentence to help you figure out
what the underlined word means. Circle the
letter for the answer you have chosen.
SAMPLE C
The ship was going to Halifax and the cold
turn the weather had taken and his
insufficient clothing made him desire a trip
to the Sugar Isles above all else.
Insufficient means-A cheerful
B not adequate; not enough
C elaborate
D not cheap; expensive
15. The servant would not permit Johnny to
take the note to Mr. Hancock. So the boy
went to the front door, rang the bell,
hoping some other less obdurate servant
might let him in. Obdurate means-A observant
B friendly
C pleasant; good-natured
D hard-hearted; strict
16. She did not thank him. It was as if she
knew that proximity to such famous
beauty was reward enough for any boy or
man in Boston.
Proximity means -F closeness
G prudence
H distance
J foolishness
17. He tried to show interest in what she had
to tell him. Once he would have been very
interested. Now he felt like a hypocrite,
and because he was uncomfortable he
blamed it in some way on Cilla.
Hypocrite means -A one who takes joy in others’
accomplishments
B one who pretends what he doesn’t
actually feel
C one who dislikes loud parties
D one who likes to socialize with others
18. Her bartering and bickering had then
seemed small-minded to him; now he
was enough older to realize how valiantly
she had fought for those under her care.
Valiantly means -F half-heartedly
G selfishly
H carelessly
J bravely
19. Gale picked up heavy Madge as though
she were a pet cat and sat her down
beside him. The little man must be
prodigiously strong, thought Johnny.
Prodigiously means -A hugely; remarkably
B weakly; feebly
C unhappily
D foolishly
20. His crippled hand made it impossible for
him to pull a trigger. This incapacity
fretted him badly and he would
sometimes take it out on Rab.
Incapacity means -F lack of awareness of one’s
surroundings
G desire for pleasure
H inability to perform
J boldness; courage
Talent Development Secondary · Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland · 2012
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Reading Comprehension
DIRECTIONS
Read each passage, then read each question about the passage. Decide which is the best answer to
the question. Circle the letter for the answer you have chosen.
SAMPLE
Johnny was so anxious to be on with the work—tediously delayed by Dove’s tricks—he hardly
listened.
“And boy, don’t you go get all fretted up over what’s after all nothing but an order for silver. It’s
sinful to let yourself go so over mundane things. Now I want you to set quietly and memorize them
verses I had you read about pride. Work’s over for the day.”
“What?”
“Yep. It always was the old-fashioned way to start Lord’s Day at sunset on Saturday and I’ve
decided to re-establish the habit in my house.”
“Mr. Lapham, we’ve got to work this evening. We’ve promised Mr. Hancock.”
“I doubt God cares even a little bit whether Mr. Hancock has any silver. It’s better to break faith
with him, isn’t it, than with the Lord?”
Johnny was tired. His head was ringing. His hands shook a little. He walked out of the shop,
slamming the door after him, and stormed into the kitchen. He knew Mrs. Lapham did not take
much stock in her father-in-law’s pious ways.
1. What is the source of conflict in this
passage?
A Johnny doesn’t want to work this
evening.
B Mr. Lapham doesn’t want Johnny to
work this evening.
C Johnny doesn’t want to memorize the
Bible verses Mr. Lapham gave him.
D Mr. Lapham wants to fill Mr. Hancock’s
silver order, but Johnny doesn’t.
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2. What do you think might happen after
this?
F Johnny will discuss this problem with
Mrs. Lapham, who will take his side.
G Mr. Lapham will change his mind about
keeping the Sabbath.
H Johnny will stop worrying about the silver
order for Mr. Hancock, and learn his
verses.
J Mrs. Lapham will order Johnny to stop
work and memorize the verses.
Talent Development Secondary · Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland · 2012
THE PRIDE OF YOUR POWER
Dove went to the shelves where the crucibles for melting silver were kept. Johnny did not see
Dove standing on a tool, reaching far back and carefully taking out a cracked crucible. Dusty saw
him and giggled. He knew the crack in it was so small it was hard even to see. It might stand the
heat of the furnace, but the chances were that it would not…Both he and Dove thought it would
just about serve Johnny Tremain right—after the insufferable way he had been bossing everybody—
if the crucible gave way and the hot silver did spill all over the top of the furnace. It would certainly
make Johnny look like a fool, after all his fussing.
Johnny took the cracked crucible in his trusting hands, put in it silver ingots, and set it on top of
the furnace.
Cilla flew in. “Ma, there’s a man looking at our chimney.”
“How’s he dressed?”
“Seafaring man.”
“No seafaring man ever objected to a little Sabbath-breaking. But mind if you see any deacons
or constables.”
The work went on.
Isannah sat with the cat in her lap. “Johnny is going to Hell,” she said firmly. Johnny himself
thought this was possible.
He called to Mrs. Lapham to “look sharp” and put the old silver turnip watch where he could see
it. The silver must be run at a certain speed and be allowed to cool for just so long.
Mrs. Lapham was so slavishly eager to help him, he almost felt fond of her. He did not notice
Dusty and Dove snickering in a corner.
Some of the beeswax he had used for his models had been left too near the furnace. It had
melted and run over the floor. Johnny had been taught to clean up as he went along, but today he
was in too much of a hurry to bother.
“Johnny,” cried Mrs. Lapham, “isn’t it time to pour? Look, the silver is melted and begun to
wink.” It was true.
He moved forward delicately, his right hand outstretched. The crucible began to settle—collapse,
the silver was running over the top of the furnace like spilled milk. Johnny jumped toward it, his
right hand still outstretched. Something happened, he never knew exactly what. His feet went out
from under him. His hand came down on top of the furnace.
The burn was so terrible he at first felt no pain, but stood stupidly looking at his hand. For one
second, before the metal cooled, the inside of his right hand, from wrist to fingertips, was coated
with solid silver. He looked at the back of his hand. It was as always. Then he smelled burned
flesh. The room blackened and tipped around him. He heard a roaring in his ears.
1. Why does Cilla worry when a man looks
at their chimney?
A She fears the chimney will catch on
fire.
B She fears he will give them more
orders to fill.
C She fears he will know they are
working on the Sabbath when he sees
smoke.
D She fears he will try to get Johnny to
run away to sea.
2. Why does the silver spill all over the top
of the furnace?
F It spills because Dove made the
furnace too hot.
G It spills because Dove gave Johnny a
cracked crucible.
H It spills because Johnny is hurrying.
J It spills because Johnny let the silver
get too hot.
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Talent Development Secondary · Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland · 2012
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3. Why does Johnny put his hand on top of
the furnace?
A He wants to collect the spilled silver.
B He wants to test how hot it is.
C He is wrestling with Dove and slips.
D He slips on the beeswax while his
hand is stretched out.
4. Why does Dove give Johnny a cracked
crucible?
F He wants Johnny to burn his hand.
G He doesn’t know the crucible is
cracked.
H He wants the crucible to blow up.
J He wants Johnny to look foolish when
the silver spills.
5. We see evidence of Johnny’s pride in this
passage when
A he doesn’t notice Dove and Dusty
snickering in the corner.
B he tells his mistress to “look sharp”
and enjoys bossing her around.
C he feels bad about breaking the
Sabbath.
D he wants Dove and Dusty to help him.
6. What do you think might happen if
constables or deacons observe the
Laphams working on the Sabbath?
F They would laugh at them.
G They wouldn’t care.
H They would disapprove and punish
them.
J They would give them more orders for
silver pieces.
7. Which of the following probably will not
happen after this incident?
A Johnny’s hand will heal quickly.
B Johnny’s hand will be badly burned.
C Mr. Lapham will learn of the Sabbath
breaking and be unhappy.
D Mr. Lapham will learn that Dove gave
Johnny the cracked crucible.
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Talent Development Secondary · Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland · 2012
THE BOSTON OBSERVER
For the first four days of every week Johnny was his own master. He spent his time exercising
his horse, unless he got an order to ride express for the Afric Queen, in learning to write with his
left hand, and in an orgy of reading. Mr. Lorne had a fine library. It was as if Johnny had been
starved before and never known it. He read anything—everything. Bound back copies of the
Observer, Paradise Lost, Robinson Crusoe—once more, for that was one of the books Rab had
brought him to read in jail… It was a world of which he never had guessed while living with the
Laphams, and now he remembered with gratitude how his mother had struggled to teach him so
that this world might not be forever closed to him. How she had made him read to her, when he
would rather have been playing. Poor woman! Her books had been few and mostly dull.
So he sat for hours in the Lorne’s sunny parlor, the books about him stretching to the ceiling.
Mrs. Lorne never called to him to help her in the kitchen. She, Uncle Lorne, and Rab all took it for
granted that Johnny ought to read. Mrs. Lapham could not have borne the sight of so “idle” a boy.
But Aunt Lorne never interrupted him except to come in now and then with a plate of hot
gingerbread or seed cakes, and once in a long time ask him if he would mind baby as she went out
marketing or visiting.
“I’ll just put baby in his cradle here, and if he doesn’t go right to sleep you rock him a little with
your foot.” The first time he read Tom Jones, he got so excited he absent-mindedly rocked baby for
half an hour, but even this did not upset that regular Silsbee of Lexington. The baby gulped a little,
but took it philosophically—just like Rab. Secretly, and only when alone, Johnny began calling him
“Rabbit.” It was easy for him to love, and he loved the baby. He would have died before he would
have let anyone guess he was so simple, but Aunt Lorne knew. Sometimes she would come into
the kitchen quietly and hear Johnny holding long, one-sided conversations with Rabbit. When she
came into the room where he was with the child, he would merely say scornfully, “Aunt Lorne, I
think it is wet,” and pretend to be lost in a book.
Then she would feel so fond of the lonely boy who never knew he was lonely, and so amused at
his pretense of scorn for something he in his heart loved, she could not help but kiss him. She
always kissed him where his hair began to grow in the middle of his forehead. He had never known
until she told him that he had a widow’s peak, which she assured him was a great mark of beauty.
“Why, I’d give anything for a widow’s peak,” she would say, “I’d give a plate of cookies,” and off she
would waddle—for she was tiny-footed and too plump—and come back with the cookies.
Johnny thought Rab was lucky to have an aunt like that.
8. What is not different in Johnny’s new life
with the Lornes?
F The Lornes encourage reading.
G Aunt Lorne is affectionate and
sometimes kisses Johnny.
H Johnny has chores and
responsibilities.
J Aunt Lorne brings him cookies and
treats.
9. Aunt Lorne can tell that Johnny loves the
baby because
A he tells her when it is wet.
B he talks lovingly to the baby when he
thinks no one is listening.
C he pretends to ignore the baby.
D he rocks the baby too fast.
10. How does Johnny view his mother’s
struggle to teach him to read?
F He wishes she had tried harder to
teach him.
G He realizes how hard she worked to
teach him, and appreciates it.
H He thinks she wasted her time
teaching him to read.
J He thinks he would have taught
himself to read as an adult.
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Talent Development Secondary · Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland · 2012
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11. Which of the following is an opinion?
A
Showing his love for the baby would
make Johnny look weak or dumb.
B The Lorne’s library contains many
books that Johnny has never seen
before.
C Aunt Lorne sometimes leaves the baby
with Johnny.
D Johnny was not encouraged to read at
the Lapham s’ house.
12. Why might the Lornes, like Johnny’s
mother, think reading is so important?
F Reading will help pass the time when
he is bored.
G Reading opens up a world of
knowledge to him.
H Reading helps him not be idle.
J Reading will help him be a better
silversmith.
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Talent Development Secondary · Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland · 2012
A WORLD TO COME
“(We fight)… for men and women and children all over the world,” Otis said. “You were right, you
tall, dark boy, for even as we shoot down the British soldiers we are fighting for rights such as they
will be enjoying a hundred years from now.
“…There shall be no more tyranny. A handful of men cannot seize power over thousands. A man
shall choose who it is shall rule over him.
“The peasants of France, the serfs of Russia. Hardly more than animals now. But because we
fight, they shall see freedom like a new sun rising in the west. Those natural rights God has given to
every man, no matter how humble…” […]
“Some of us will give our wits,” he said, “some of us all our property. Heh, John Hancock, did you
hear that? Property—that hurts, eh? To give one’s silver wine-coolers, one’s coach and four, and the
gold buttons off one’s sprigged satin waistcoats?”
Hancock looked him straight in the face and Johnny had never before liked him so well.
“I am ready,” he said. “I can get along without all that.”
“You, Paul Revere, you’ll give up that silvercraft you love. God made you to make silver, not war.”
Revere smiled. “There’s a time for the casting of silver and a time for the casting of cannon. If
that’s not in the Bible, it should be.”
“Doctor Warren, you’ve a young family. You know quite well, if you get killed they may literally
starve.”
Warren said, “I’ve thought of all that long ago.”
“And you, John Adams. You’ve built up a very nice little law practice, stealing away my clients, I
notice. Ah, well, so it goes. Each shall give according to his own abilities, and some—” he turned
directly to Rab—“some will give their lives. All the years of their maturity. All the children they never
live to have. The serenity of old age. To die so young is more than merely dying; it is to lose so large
a part of life.”
Rab was looking straight at Otis. His arms were folded across his chest. His head flung back a
little. His lips parted as though he would speak, but he did not.
“Even you, my old friend—my old enemy? How shall I call you, Sam Adams? Even you will give the
best you have—a genius for politics. Oh, go to Philadelphia! Pull all the wool, pull all the strings and
all the wires. Yes, go, go! And God go with you. We need you, Sam. We must fight this war. You’ll
play your part—but what it is really about… you’ll never know.”
James Otis was on his feet, his head close against the rafters that cut down into the attic,
making it the shape of a tent. Otis put out his arms.
“It is all so much simpler than you think,” he said. He lifted his hands and pushed against the
rafters.
“We give all we have, lives, property, safety, skills… we fight, we die, for a simple thing. Only that
a man can stand up.”
With a curt nod, he was gone.
Johnny was standing close to Rab. It had frightened him when Mr. Otis had said, “Some will give
their lives,” and looked straight at Rab. Die so that “a man can stand up.”
13. What does Mr. Otis mean when he says the colonists fight so that “a man can stand up”?
A They fight for less taxation.
B They fight for freedom from
oppression.
C They fight for their lives and property.
D They fight for peasants in France.
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Talent Development Secondary · Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland · 2012
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The T-chart below shows some of the things Otis expects the patriots to have to sacrifice for the
cause of freedom.
Name
Expected Sacrifice
X
His wealth and comfort
Paul Revere
His craft and business
Dr. Warren
Y
Rab
His life and his future
14. Which of the following belongs in the
space marked “X”?
F John Hancock
G John Adams
H Sam Adams
J Johnny Tremain
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15. Which of the following belongs in the
space marked “Y”?
A His life
B His family’s security
C Both A and B
D Neither A nor B
Talent Development Secondary · Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland · 2012