WorksheetsLongfellow Battlers: The Sixty-Eight Rooms
Total questions: 20
Worksheet time: 12mins
Who wrote The Sixty-Eight Rooms?
Marianne Malone
Henrik Ibsen
Lincoln Peirce
Andy Griffiths
In which great world museum does much of this story take place?
The Art Institute of Chicago
The Field Museum
The Shedd Aquarium
The Adler Planetarium
Ruthie Stewart and Jack Tucker, 6th graders at Oakton, lie and mislead other (kind) people many, many times in this book, and don't seem to pay a price for it. Who do they mislead? Check all that apply...
Lydia, Jack's mom
Ruthie's parents Helen and Dan and her older sister Claire who leaves for college in 635 days
Ms. Biddle and many security guards
Mr. Bell and Mrs. McVittle (although Mrs. McVittle catches the lie and Mr. Bell might also be on to them)
all of the magical characters they meet in the past
Mrs. Narcissa Niblack Thorne assembled the rooms using miniatures she acquired from around the world (including a little shop in Paris); she hired craftsmen to finish the rooms by creating additional items before the rooms went on permanent display at AIC in the 50s; why didn't she ever include humans in the rooms?
because they didn't look as realistic as the objects and therefore distracted from the overall effect
because they were already too crowded with nocturnal magic elves
Which characters from the past to Ruthie and Jack speak with on their adventures? Check all that apply
Sophie Lacombe and her tutor Monsieur Lesueur (yummy croissants!)
Thomas Wilcox
Christina of Milan
Benjamin Franklin, who thinks everything seems better in the morning
A. W. Pederson of Denmark who found a dollhouse that once belonged to a young Danish girl, and craftsmen Eugene Kupjack and his cousin, Lee Meisinger, who was a master of embroidery
What life lessons might someone take from this book? Check all that apply...
You never know, something exciting could happen today if you watch carefully.
You have to make things happen for yourself, so be prepared (semper paratus).
It is always harder to put something together than it is to take it apart (suit of armor).
Once you have "made the decision to not think," you may find yourself in a web of lies, particularly if you have a friend that is not bothered by lying and says things like, "anybody would do the same thing."
A room might feel luxurious, but it is the people that make it special (or "animate" it).
Ruthie's mom teaches French and Spanish at Oakton and Jack's mom gets a job painting a mural there. Who is Ruthie and Jack's main teacher?
Ms. Biddle
Mr. Bell, who teaches portrait photography
Lydia
antiques dealer Mrs. Minerva McVittle, who speaks a number of languages and toured the Thorne Rooms with her sister when the exhibit traveled to Boston when she was a child
What Japanese object does Jack leave in the Japanese room, with a note inside?
a large candle stand for use in fighting off water bugs
the journal of Sophie Lacombe
the diary of Christina of Milan, which explained that she was originally from Denmark and did not want to marry Henry VIII of England, for obvious reasons
a model of the Mayflower built by Thomas Wilcox
his bento box
The Thorne Rooms in Gallery 11 are built at a scale in which one inch = 1 foot. About how tall are Jack and Ruthie when they shrink?
5 inches
25 inches
50 inches
100 inches
All we know is that there are 31 European Rooms and 37 American Rooms, which adds up to 68. There is also a Japanese Room, but that is with the Europeans (E31).
Who's initials are on the key Jack steals and puts in his pocket?
He actually steals two keys, one from Christina of Milan (initials CM) and another from Mr. Bell, marked AIC-G11 for Art Institute of Chicago, Gallery 11.
Jack Tucker
Betty McVittie, who may want to get that shimmery handbag back if she every comes through the wrinkle in time.
When does this story take place? Check all that apply...
during the late winter and early spring, as the older kids take SATs and the blizzards and cold winds necessitate warm jackets and sweatshirts
the middle of August, 1997
during the run up to the French Revolution in the late 18th century, amid the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, and during the early 1500s - the age of Henry VIII
Ruthie is enchanted by room E17 and wants to sleep in the green silk covering the canopy bed. A six year-old sees her in miniature and tries to tell her mother. Does the girl's mother believe her daughter?
no
yes
Which books and materials does Ruthie read in this story? Check all that apply...
The Thorne Room catalogue, lent to her by Jack's mom Lydia
16 year-old Christina of Milan's diary ("My key is the key, etc....)
14 year-old Sophie Lacombe's journal
Lots of materials in the archives
Mr. Edmund Bell's wife died when his daughter was only seven years old. Later, the portraits he took of them were lost. What does Mr. Bell's daughter Caroline do for a living?
She is a pediatrician, and is no fool. She used to visit the Thorne Rooms herself, and knows that Ruthie and Jack must have been there too if they found the photo album.
She is also a photographer.
She paints in the style of Fernand Lėger, a painter represented in the California Thorne room (her dad's favorite).
Why do Ruthie's parents go to St. Louis?
to attend the funeral of her old college professor
to visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum
to play Scotch-hoppers with Sarah Wilcox and her four children
to avoid prosecution by Martha Williams, the pastor's wife, who, like a true gossip, seemed wickedly gleeful when delivering the news of this morning's hanging of Elizabeth Howe
Jack's mom is worried about the rent due to her landlord Frank Murphy, who claims to have people offering three times what she is paying. How is this problem resolved?
Ruthie's parents suggest to the school board that she get a commission for a new mural on the school building.
She takes an office job and gives up painting.
She opens a coffee shop and makes lots of waffles, oatmeal cookies, hot chocolate, and all the rest.
Thomas Wilcox comes forward in time, steals 50 flashlights from the shop on Wabash, goes back in time, sells them, invests all the money in real estate, comes back through time when he is old, and gives all the money to Jack.
What objects did Jack and Ruthie come across that seemed out of place? Check all that apply...
an old backpack
a number two pencil
a pink barrette
an American mug in an English room
a suit of armor
How did Ruthie defeat the cockroach / waterbug?
She pulled its leg out from under it, flipping it onto its back until they could get back up to full size and squash it.
She yelled, "Expelliarmus!"
She sprayed it with windex.
She distracted it with potato chip crumbs and ran away.
She freed it from the duct tape, just like she did with the fly.
The French Revolution of 1789 set out to overthrow King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. In this story, who escaped the violence of this war, because they had spoken to Ruthie and Jack?
Sophie Lacombe, who went to a convent in England, and her tutor, who visited America
Napoleon
Cosette and Marius
Which clever engineering tricks do the kids use to explore the rooms? Check all that apply...
The build a large staircase out of catalogs.
They use nylon cord.
They build a climbing wall from duct tape to go through air ducts.
Jack builds a rope ladder for their final visit to return Sophie's journal (which is now filled in).
