Where the Red Fern Grows Chapter 8

1. Billy's father talked to him ______________________.
a) like he was a small boy
b) like he was a man
c) about how to hunt
d) about how to treat his younger sisters

2. Mama felt ________________ about Billy going hunting.
a) sorrowful
b) excited
c) worried
d) glad

3. What surprise did Billy get as he started to go hunting the first time?
a) Papa gave Billy a new lantern.
b) Billy's dogs were on the porch waiting as if they knew they were going hunting.
c) Billy's sisters made him a special card.
d) Mama whispered a special prayer to Billy.

4. The first trick the coon played on Little Ann and Old Dan was _______________.
a) crossing the river
b) climbing a fence rail
c) going into a cave
d) ducking under the log

5. When the dogs treed the coon, _____________.
a) it was turning daylight
b) Billy couldn't find his ax
c) it was in a giant sycamore tree
d) it was with a second coon

6. Billy had named this sycamore tree _____________.
a) "the enormous wonder"
b) "the big tree"
c) "the marvelous giant"
d) "God's gift"

7. Why did Billy NOT leave the coon in the big sycamore and look for another coon that would be easier to catch?
a) Billy knew it was too late to find another coon that night.
b) Billy had always wanted to cut down a large tree.
c) Billy had made a promise to his dogs.
d) Billy did not want to go home and tell his family he had not been successful.

8. Billy's sisters wanted to look in his eyes _______________.
a) to see if he was crazy
b) to see if he had a splinter in it
c) to see if he was crying

9. This chapter is mainly about _______________.
a) little sisters
b) tricks raccoons can play
c) chopping down a big sycamore tree
d) Billy's first coon hunt

10. Based on this story it is likely that ______________.
a) Billy will give up catching the coon in the giant sycamore tree
b) Billy will figure out a way to catch the coon in the giant sycamore tree
c) Little Ann and Old Dan will climb the giant sycamore tree and capture the coon
d) the giant sycamore tree will fall down on its own so that Billy can catch the coon

11. Which statement from Chapter 8 contains a cause-effect relationship?
a) This was what I had prayed for, worked and sweated for, my own little hounds bawling on the trail of a river coon.
b) The coon had pulled a simple trick. He had run out on the drift, leaped into the water, and crossed the river.
c) Little Ann came to me. I could see the pleading in her warm gray eyes.
d) I realized that on striking the river the animal had again turned and was coming straight toward me, so I jumped behind a big sycamore and was trying hard to press my body into the tree when a big coon came tearing by.

12. Which excerpt from Chapter 8 best supports the author's belief that Billy will succeed in cutting down the giant tree?
a) My sister got upset. She looked at me, threw back her small head, and looked up to the top of the big sycamore. "You're as crazy as a bedbug," she said.
b) The food did wonders for me. My strength came back. I spit on my hands and, whistling a coon hunter's tune, I started making the chips fly.
c) My arms felt like two dead grapevines, and my back felt like someone had pulled a plug out of one end of it and drained all the sap out.
d) By sunup I was so stiff I could hardly move. My hands and arms were numb. My back screamed with pain. I could go no further.



----------Key----------

1. (b)
2. (c)
3. (b)
4. (a)
5. (c)
6. (b)
7. (c)
8. (a)
9. (d)
10. (b)
11. (d)
12. (b)