How To Eat Fried Worms

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-15

Reading Check

1. How much will Alan and Joe give Billy if he wins the bet?

2. What is the main reason Alan does not want Billy to win the bet?

3. Why do Alan and Joe keep sneezing while Billy eats the fourth worm?

4. What does Billy say about Tom after Tom backs out of eating a worm?

5. What finally makes Billy believe he’s been poisoned by worms?

6. What is really causing Billy’s stomach to hurt?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What causes Alan and Joe to challenge Billy to eat 15 worms?

2. Why does Billy agree to Alan and Joe’s bet?

3. What is one example of how Billy either outsmarts or tackles the bets he makes with Alan and Joe?

4. What does Billy realize as he eats the second worm, which he’s doused in ketchup and mustard?

Paired Resource

“Meet Thomas Rockwell, Author of How to Eat Fried Worms”

• A 2-minute video interview with Thomas Rockwell
• Does hearing from the author make you more excited to find out what happens in this novel? Why?

Chapters 16-30

Reading Check

1. How does Joe try to cheat after frying a worm in cornmeal?

2. What does the doctor say when Billy’s mom calls him and tells him about the bet?

3. What happens when Billy’s parents monitor his eating worms while Alan and Joe are away fishing?

4. What is Tom doing when Billy realizes he hasn’t eaten a worm yet and it is 11:45 p.m.?

5. Why can’t Billy eat the worm with just Tom and his brother?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Billy respond when Alan says that using mustard is cheating?

2. How do Joe and Alan plan to capitalize on Billy’s love of eating so that they can win the bet?

3. What is the consequence of Joe and Alan’s plan once Alan’s father finds out?

Paired Resources

“The Book Boys Learn How to Eat Fried Worms!”

• A 4-minute YouTube video from Scholastic featuring cooking with different worms—including real worms!
• Connects to the theme of Overcoming and Learning Through Challenges
• What is compelling about a book centered around a bet that requires someone to eat fried worms? Why might this book have remained so popular, even though it was first published in 1973?

“Should We Make Room for Worms on Our Dinner Plate?”

• An NPR article by Alison Baitz about the nutritional benefits of eating worms and examples from other cultures that eat worms regularly
• What does this article teach about the taboo against eating worms that is exemplified in this novel?

Chapters 31-41

Reading Check

1. Why isn’t Tom present when Billy eats the last worm?

2. How does Billy know he’s been fooled by Joe and Alan?

3. Who stops Alan and Joe from putting Billy in the cistern?

4. Who brings Billy the real last worm?

5. What is the last thing Billy eats in the novel?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Mr. Forrester know that the letter is a forgery?

2. Why can’t Alan make it to the river at the end of the book?

Paired Resource

Trailer for How to Eat Fried Worms

• The trailer for the 2006 film version of Rockwell’s novel
• How does this movie appear to be different from the book? Why might the filmmakers have made these changes?

Recommended Next Reads

How to Fight a Girl by Thomas Rockwell

• In this sequel to How to Eat Fried Worms, Joe and Alan plan to get revenge on Billy.
• Shared themes include Parallels Between Life and War.

Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary

• In this humorous novel, nine-year-old Beezus Quimby must learn what it means to be an older sibling to her little sister, Ramona.
• Shared themes include Overcoming and Learning Through Challenges.
• Beezus and Ramona on SuperSummary