Johnny Appleseed quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Which genre best describes the story of Johnny Appleseed?

   • Realistic Fiction
   • Correct answer: Tall Tale
   • Mystery
   • Science Fiction
   • Fairy Tale

   A Tall Tale is an American folk story about a hero whose deeds are exaggerated beyond real life. Johnny Appleseed fits: a real frontier man becomes a legend who plants trees across thousands of miles and is said to still be out there planting.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Where did John get the apple seeds he planted?

   • He bought them from a seed store back in Massachusetts
   • He traded his old coat for them in a river town
   • Correct answer: He scooped them from the cider mills in Pennsylvania
   • He picked them from wild apple trees in Indiana

   John went to the cider mills in Pennsylvania, where farmers threw the leftover seeds away in big mushy piles. He scooped them up by the bucketful, washed and dried them, and packed them into leather bags.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What does "Wilderness" mean in this story?

   • Correct answer: Wild land where few or no people live
   • A busy town full of shops and wide roads
   • A neat farm with fences and barns
   • A calm lake deep inside a forest

   John threw a bag of seeds over his shoulder and walked into the wilderness, the wild country of Ohio and Indiana, with thick forests and no stores, no orchards, and hardly any roads.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What did Johnny do when a settler family had nothing at all to pay for his trees?

   • He told them to come back when they had some money
   • He asked them to work in his orchard for a whole season
   • He took their wagon as payment for the young trees
   • Correct answer: He gave the family the young trees for free

   The story says that if a family had nothing at all, Johnny gave them the trees for free. Helping people mattered more to him than getting paid.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What did Johnny usually wear as a hat?

   • A raccoon cap with a striped tail
   • Correct answer: The tin pot he cooked his supper in
   • A straw hat woven from dry prairie grass
   • A leather bag full of apple seeds

   For a hat, Johnny wore the tin pot he cooked his supper in. That way he never had to carry it! When the sun got in his eyes, he made a cardboard hat with a brim like a duck's bill.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What happened to the shoes the kind farmer gave Johnny one freezing November?

   • Correct answer: He gave them to a poor family who had no shoes at all
   • He lost them in the deep snow while crossing a cold river
   • He traded them to a settler for a sack of cornmeal
   • He tied them to a fence because they hurt his feet

   Johnny met a poor family heading west with no shoes at all, so he gave the shoes to them. As the story says, "They needed them more than he did."

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7. 7

   Question 7. Johnny put out his own campfire so mosquitoes would not get burned. What does this show about him?

   • He was too afraid of wild animals to fight them
   • Correct answer: He cared about every creature, even small ones
   • He wanted the settlers to think he was brave
   • He hoped the animals would guard his seeds

   Johnny would not hurt a living thing, "not even a bug." He shivered in the dark instead of letting a single mosquito burn, slept in the snow rather than wake a mother bear, and gently freed a hornet, saying, "It didn't mean to hurt me."

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8. 8

   Question 8. What does "Frontier" mean in this story?

   • A fence of brush built to keep deer out
   • The front porch of a settler's log cabin
   • Correct answer: The far edge of settled land, next to the wild
   • A crowded city with churches and stagecoaches

   For almost fifty years, Johnny walked the frontier. Whenever towns and churches caught up with him, he walked farther west, to where the settlers were just arriving and the land was still wild.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which detail from the story is the best example of hyperbole?

   • He built a little brush fence to keep out the deer
   • He sold his young trees for just a few pennies apiece
   • He left a piece of a book at each cabin he visited
   • Correct answer: A rattlesnake that bit his feet broke its own fangs

   Folks said Johnny's feet were so tough from walking barefoot through snow and thorns that a rattlesnake could bite him and break its own fangs. That is hyperbole, a big exaggeration that turns a real man into a tall-tale hero.

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10. 10

    Question 10. Johnny planted dog fennel, thinking it would keep people from getting sick. What does this part of the story show?

    • Correct answer: Even a kind hero can make mistakes
    • Johnny was secretly a skilled doctor
    • Farmers in Ohio loved the new weed
    • Johnny planted weeds to trick people

    Johnny's dog fennel did not work, and the smelly weed spread all over Ohio. The story includes this to show that Johnny wasn't perfect. Even a kind, good-hearted hero can make mistakes.

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11. 11

    Question 11. Johnny had only a few books. How did he share them?

    • He read the same book aloud in every town
    • He wrote a new book for every cabin he visited
    • He lent one whole book to each family for a year
    • Correct answer: He tore books into parts and left one at each cabin

    Johnny tore his books into sections and left a piece at each cabin. The next time he came through, he swapped it for the next part. That way one book could go around a whole county.

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12. 12

    Question 12. The story begins and ends with the star of seeds hidden inside an apple. What does the star of seeds stand for?

    • The apples are sweeter when they are cut the right way
    • Johnny wanted children to learn about stars in the sky
    • Correct answer: Each small seed holds the promise of many future trees
    • The settlers used apple stars to find their way west

    As a boy John said, "Every apple has a little star hidden inside it." At the end the story asks you to count the seeds, because each one could grow a whole tree, and each tree could feed a family for a hundred years. The seeds stand for how Johnny's gifts keep growing long after him.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What is the main theme of the story of Johnny Appleseed?

    • A person should always stay close to home and family
    • Correct answer: Small acts of kindness can keep growing for generations
    • Hard work matters more than friendship or sharing
    • The best way to become famous is to wear odd clothes

    Johnny spent his life planting trees and helping people and animals. The story ends by showing that his trees made seeds that grew more trees. His simple, generous work kept feeding families long after he was gone.

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14. 14

    Question 14. Which of these events actually happened in the story?

    • As a boy, John showed that an apple cut crosswise has seeds in the shape of a star.

      Happened

      John told his brothers and sisters, "Every apple has a little star hidden inside it," and cut one crosswise to prove it. The seeds sat in a five-pointed star.

    • Johnny bought his apple seeds from a store in Ohio.

      Didn't happen

      There were no stores in the wild country of Ohio. John scooped up the leftover seeds from cider mills in Pennsylvania, where farmers threw them away.

    • Johnny made a shirt out of an old coffee sack.

      Happened

      He cut holes for his head and arms in an old coffee sack and pulled it on. "As good a coat as any man needs," he said.

    • Johnny chased a mother bear and her cubs out of a hollow log so he could sleep there.

      Didn't happen

      Johnny tiptoed away and slept out in the snow instead. "No sense waking the family," he said.

    • When a hornet stung him again and again, Johnny gently lifted it out and let it go.

      Happened

      The men laughed and asked why he didn't swat it. Johnny just set it free and said, "It didn't mean to hurt me."

    • The dog fennel Johnny planted kept the settlers from getting sick.

      Didn't happen

      It didn't work. The smelly weed spread all over Ohio, and farmers are still pulling it up today.

    • Johnny offered to tell families news right fresh from heaven after supper.

      Happened

      Lying by the fire, he would ask, "Would you like to hear some news right fresh from heaven?" Then he read aloud from a worn old book.

    • When towns grew up around him, Johnny settled down and opened an apple shop.

      Didn't happen

      Every time towns and churches and roads caught up with him, Johnny said goodbye to his friends and walked farther west, where settlers needed trees the most.

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