How To Eat Fried Worms

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-book review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. What character trait suggests that Alan worries a lot?

A) He keeps scratching his head.

B) He allows Joe to bully him.

C) He chews his thumb often.

D) He does whatever Billy says.

2. Which of the following reasons best explains why Alan wants Billy to fail in their bet?

A) He doesn’t want to owe his father the 50 dollars he bet.

B) He doesn’t want Billy to succeed where he failed.

C) He doesn’t want Billy to be braver than him.

D) He doesn’t want his friends to think that he was wrong.

3. How does Tom’s refusal to eat a worm himself help Billy develop his independence and self-confidence?

A) He realizes that he is braver than his friends, making him want to seek out new challenges.

B) He realizes that he can prepare and eat the worms himself, making him feel that he can do things on his own.

C) He realizes that Tom was never really his friend, and that the relationship was holding Billy back.

D) He realizes that he has special abilities and can think his way out of any situation, even if he is afraid.

4. Which of the following best embodies the theme of Overcoming and Learning Through Challenges in the novel?

A) That eating worms is not bad for you

B) That bets with friends can get out of hand

C) That people must learn how to meet the challenges life throws at them

D) That staying friends can be a challenge when competition is involved

5. Why is it important that, on the first day of the bet, the boys lay out specific rules like whether or not Billy can use ketchup and mustard?

A) It foreshadows the cheating that will occur when Joe and Alan try to trick Billy into forfeiting.

B) It suggests that Billy has cheated in the past, and Alan and Joe are trying to prevent it from happening again.

C) It makes the line between winning and losing clear, especially since the rules are broken by the end of the novel.

D) It sets the boundaries between honor and cheating that they have to abide by for the rest of the challenge.

6. How does Billy’s confidence in his ability to eat worms demonstrate how his relationship to Alan changes?

A) Alan is usually confident and taunting, but now Billy is, while Alan fears his father’s wrath.

B) Alan is usually the one who will eat anything, but Billy has one-upped him by eating worms.

C) Alan is usually a bully toward Billy, but now Billy can bully him, as in Billy’s teasing about his impending victory.

D) Alan is usually daring and wins his bets with Billy, but he is increasingly afraid that Billy will win this one.

7. What is revealed about the night crawlers Billy has been eating when he discovers that Joe has tried to cheat by gluing two together?

A) Billy can outsmart anyone, catching Joe in the act of cheating.

B) Worms are easily disguisable as pasta, making it even easier for Billy to win the bet.

C) Billy’s backyard is infested with worms.

D) Each worm is about a foot long, since two together are nearly two feet in length.

8. What do the author’s references to famous battles and military leaders suggest?

A) The boys are learning about World War II in their history class.

B) The boys view the bet as a war.

C) The novel is a retelling of World War II.

D) War has had a large impact on the boys’ families.

9. What does the incident with the chocolate pudding and Billy’s mom reveal about Tom?

A) That he wants Billy to take the blame for his mistakes

B) That he wants to sabotage Billy so he doesn’t win the bet

C) That he isn’t as brave as Billy

D) That he is just as willing to lie as Joe is

10. Why does Rockwell change the arrangement of letters in words while the boys fight, changing, for example, “Twist!” to “Tsiwt!”?

A) To reflect the physical fight happening in the text

B) To teach readers to address the challenge of unraveling the words

C) To get readers to read the book out loud

D) To make a point about using words creatively when writing

11. How far is Alan willing to go to win the bet?

A) He is willing to lie to his parents.

B) He is willing to put Billy in physical danger.

C) He is willing to forfeit Joe’s friendship.

D) He is willing to change the rules and make Billy eat 30 worms.

12. At the end of the novel, which of the following might be symbolized by Billy’s worm sandwich?

A) He is ready for any challenges that come his way in life.

B) He is anxious for someone else to challenge him to eat worms.

C) He is more willing to try new foods.

D) He is excited for his next adventure.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. Choose a character besides Billy. How does that character change over the course of the novel?

2. What values does this novel embrace? Choose at least two values to discuss and describe how they appear in the novel.