Johnny Tremain
Assignment #1
Chapters 1-3
Respond to TEN questions thoroughly with complete sentences.
1. What’s an apprentice?
2. Why doesn’t Dove like Johnny?
3. Why did Mr. Lapham choose Johnny to read out of the Bible at breakfast?
4. Why was Mr. Lapham nervous to make the sugar basin?
5. What was Johnny supposed to show Mr. Lyte when he needed help?
6. Why can’t Johnny leave the Lapham’s and work for Paul Revere?
7. Who told Johnny he could work on the Sabbath and finish the sugar basin? Why?
8. Instead of a doctor, who did Mrs. Lapham tell Cilla to go get?
9. How does Johnny’s position change after the accident?
10. What happened to the sugar basin after the accident?
11. Why does Mr. Lapham want Johnny to forgive Dove?
12. What does the phrase “actions speak louder than words” mean?
13. Why had Jehu referred to Johnny as “the boy with the broken shoes”?
14. When Johnny slept by his mother’s grave, what did he remember her saying to him before she
died?
Present ONE of the following activities at our literature circle:
1. Draw a portrait of one of the characters and describe this character in 1-2 paragraphs.
2. Interview one or more of the characters. Write your questions and his or her answers.
3. Define the following words: arrogant, lassitude, mundane, posterity. Use each word in a
sentence
Johnny Tremain
Assignment #2
Chapters 4-6
Respond to TEN questions thoroughly with complete sentences.
1. What was Merchant Lyte’s reaction when Johnny told him his name and about his mother?
2. What did Rab give to Johnny to wear so he went to meet Mr. Lyte feeling presentable?
3. What are the gallows?
4. Why did Johnny want to cry when Isannah kissed his hurt hand?
5. What idea gave Johnny confidence as he learned to ride Goblin?
6. What is a Whig?
7. Why did Johnny want to meet her at the town pump every Thursday and Sunday?
8. What did Rab help Johnny do when he talked to him about his insults and name calling?
9. What does it mean to “take or leave” a Silsbee?
10. Why did Rab have Johnny memorize the names to the Observers’ Club?
11. What did Johnny deliver to the Observers’ Club members?
12. What did Sam Adams and the Observers’ Club members want to do with the tea on board
the three ships?
13. Why couldn’t the tea be unloaded from the ships that had landed?
14. Why did citizens like Paul Revere and John Hancock guard the ships, the Dartmouth and
Eleanor?
15. How did the Captain Hall react when Paul Revere and his group boarded his ship? Why?
Present ONE of the following activities at our literature circle:
1. Define the following words: civilian, laggard, lucid, exuberant, hovel, meager, pompous. Use
each word in a sentence.
2. Create a help wanted ad for occupations or services that would be available in this story.
3. Write a poem that depicts the theme and time period of this book.
Johnny Tremain
Assignment #3
Chapters 7- 9
Respond to EIGHT questions thoroughly with complete sentences.
1. How did England punish Boston for not paying for the tea?
2. What did the British soldier do to Rab when he touched the musket?
3. Why did Johnny protect Dove and befriend him?
4. Why did Cilla want to go back to Milton after the mob had chased her and the Lyte’s?
5. When Cilla and Johnny got to the Lyte house and were closing the shutters, why did it feel like
they were at a funeral?
6. What had Rab been doing with Cilla behind Johnny’s back?
7. What did James Otis mean when he said, “We give all we have…Only that a man can stand up”?
8. How did Johnny find out Lieutenant Stranger was going to go to Portsmouth and retrieve the
King’s stores of powder and ball?
9. Why did Pumpkin the soldier want to desert the British army?
10. Who was the deserter Johnny saw getting punished by the firing squad?
Present ONE of the following activities at our literature circle:
1. Draw a picture of your favorite scene. Write a few sentences explaining the scene.
2. Write a song that represents the theme of this story.
3. Define the following words: civilian, laggard, lucid, tinder. Use each word in a sentence
Johnny Tremain
Assignment #4
Chapters 10 - 12
Respond to EIGHT questions thoroughly with complete sentences.
1. What was the signal the rebels across the water needed so they would know if the soldiers
were leaving Boston on foot or in boats?
2. Who else was going to ride along with Paul Revere that night, but leaving out of Boston
pretending to be a drunken farmer?
3. How many lamps did Newman hang on Christ’s church?
4. How did Paul Revere get out of Boston?
5. Why did Doctor Warren want Johnny to stay in Boston?
6. What tune did the British soldiers play on their fifes to insult the Yankees?
7. What did Lavinia confess to Johnny?
8. What did Johnny dress up as to get passed the soldiers and out of Boston?
9. What did Johnny do to his uniform to blend in with the worn out wounded soldiers?
10. What could Doctor Warren do to fix Johnny’s hand?
11. Johnny knew that lots of men would die in the war, but what was the thing that wouldn’t
die?
Present ONE of the following activities at our literature circle:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Write a short story from the perspective of the minutemen.
Research the Boston Tea Party. Write a brief report.
Write a eulogy for Pumpkin.
Create a newspaper for two major events in the story.