Questions for I Survived the Children’s Blizzard, 1888

by Lauren Tarshis

Chapter 1

  1. What is the date?
  2. What is the main character’s name?

Chapter 2

  1. Who is missing?
  2. How much did their farm cost?

Chapter 3

  1. Who are the 3 boys John’s age?
  2. Where is the King Rattler’s den?

Chapter 4

  1. What are they eating for Sunday meal?
  2. What is their house made of?
  3. Why can’t John eat?

Chapter 5

  1. What do the boys bring to kill the snake?
  2. How old is their teacher, Miss Ruell?

Chapter 6

  1. What do the boys use as bait?
  2. How does Rex’s dad know the blizzards will start early?

Chapter 7

  1. What ate all the wheat?
  2. Name two things people do to try to stop the grasshoppers.
  3. What killed the grasshopper eggs?

Chapter 8

  1. How far can the King Rattler leap?
  2. Where does John fall?
  3. Can he swim?

Chapter 9

  1. Are the boys mad at John?
  2. What did Peter do because he was scared?
  3. What kind of cloud does John see?

Chapter 10

  1. What foods has Ma made for the winter?
  2. What foods do Ma and Franny dig up?
  3. What will Princess the cow eat in the winter?

Chapter 11

  1. What does Rex bring for lunch every day?
  2. Where is Sven from?
  3. What happened to Peter’s brother?

Chapter 12

  1. What happens when Franny licks the icicle?
  2. What happened to the haystack?
  3. Is it summer? What is the date?

Chapter 13

  1. What do the children play outside?
  2. What makes the ROOAARR?

Chapter 14

  1. Why does John go outside?
  2. What knocks John over?

Chapter 15

  1. Who finds John?
  2. Where was Franny hiding?
  3. What can they burn if they run out of coal?

Chapter 16

  1. Where do the men want to take the children and teacher?
  2. How many sleds are there?
  3. What hits the horse?

Chapter 17

  1. Where do the boys decide to go?
  2. What happens when they all fall down?

Chapter 18

  1. Where do the boys hide from the cold?
  2. What will happen if they sleep?
  3. Why do they recite poems?

Chapter 19

  1. How many people died?
  2. How long does John sleep?

Chapter 20

  1. What happened to each boy (Rex, Sven, Peter) because of the blizzard?
  2. Who is getting married?

Chapter 21

  1. What do they see instead of the Rattler?
  2. How did Pa find his way back to the house?
  3. Why doesn’t John shoot the Rattler?

Gray Pages: Name four things you learned in the Gray Pages