Red Kayak
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40 free Red Kayak trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Red Kayak is told by a thirteen-year-old who cannot stop wondering whether he is to blame. One raw spring morning Brady Parks watches a small boat head out onto rough water and says nothing. Hours later he is searching the creeks for a little boy he used to babysit, and the weeks that follow pull him between loyalty to his two best friends and the truth about what they did. This quiz covers the whole novel: the search and its aftermath, Brady's family and their life working the Chesapeake Bay, the wealthy newcomers next door, the discovery that changes everything, and the courtroom ending. A few questions step outside the story to the writer, the companion books and the honours the novel has collected. It is written for students who have just finished the book, teachers after a quick comprehension check or a printable review, and anyone revisiting a story that stays with its readers. Every answer comes with a short explanation.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In Red Kayak, which paint-flecked tool does Brady find while raking by the DiAngelos' boathouse?
A drill
A drill that had gone missing from Brady's father turns up spattered with red paint, and Brady realizes with a shock that someone may have bored holes in the kayak.
Q 02In Red Kayak, what did Brady's mother plant in the yard after her infant daughter died?
A butterfly garden
A butterfly garden gave her something to tend after the loss, and Mrs. DiAngelo plants one of her own once Brady explains how it helped.
Q 03In Red Kayak, where does the judge send J.T. and Digger for at least nine months?
A forestry camp
A forestry camp was a lighter outcome than Brady had feared: his lawyer had warned that the two boys could be held in a juvenile facility until they turned 21.
Q 04In Red Kayak, which charge do J.T. and Digger face in juvenile court over Ben's death?
Second-degree murder
Second-degree murder is the charge the judge reads out, and it stuns Brady, who had privately hoped his friends would face manslaughter instead.
Q 05In Red Kayak, which figure of speech do Brady and J.T. swap as a joke after studying it at school?
Oxymorons
Oxymorons crop up at pivotal moments in the three boys' friendship, and Brady thinks of a final one as his friends wait to hear their sentence.
Q 06In Red Kayak, which toys did Brady and little Ben build with on the afternoon Brady babysat him?
LEGO bricks
LEGO bricks kept the pair busy building, and Brady later packs his own set away when the memory of that afternoon hurts too much.
Q 07In Red Kayak, what does a grieving Brady do with the day's catch while out crabbing with his father?
Throws it overboard
Throws it overboard: deciding the crabs deserve another chance at life, Brady tosses them back until his father catches him, too late to save more than a couple of bushels.
Q 08In Red Kayak, what kind of animal is Tiny Tim, the pet of Ben's that Brady agrees to look after?
A hamster
A hamster who shares his name with the frail boy in Dickens's A Christmas Carol, Tiny Tim keeps Brady connected to Ben after Mrs. DiAngelo asks him to take the pet in.
Q 09Red Kayak is set among crabbing families on the Eastern Shore of which U.S. state?
Maryland
Maryland supplies the creeks, watermen and class tensions of the story, and its new limits on crabbing push the local watermen toward a protest.
Q 10In Red Kayak, what is the job of Brady's older cousin Carl, who drives the three boys to school?
Paramedic
Paramedic Carl gives the boys lifts in his ambulance, and he is the relative Brady's mother calls when her son cannot get past Ben's death.
Q 11Which author, first known for the picture book Chadwick the Crab, wrote Red Kayak?
Priscilla Cummings
Priscilla Cummings saw her crab story rejected more than a dozen times before a small press took it in 1986, and Red Kayak followed in 2004.
Q 12In Red Kayak, on which waterway do Brady and his friends watch a kayak head out in bad weather?
Corsica River
The Corsica River hides strong currents beneath a calm surface, and Brady spends months afterwards brooding on its banks about what happened.
Q 13In Red Kayak, which crossroads near Brady's school has the post office, the video store and the 7-Eleven?
Bailey's Wharf
Q 21In Red Kayak, what does J.T.'s family raise on the farm he is expected to take over one day?
Chickens
Chickens are the family's living, and the third novel in the series, about J.T.'s return home, is titled Cheating for the Chicken Man.
Q 22In the Red Kayak series, which sister of J.T. becomes the main character of the third novel?
Kate
Kate is thirteen when her brother comes home from nearly a year in juvenile detention to bullying, and she has to decide how far she will go to protect him.
Q 23Which companion novel to Red Kayak follows Digger after his escape from juvenile detention?
The Journey Back
The Journey Back, published in 2012, puts a fourteen-year-old Digger on the run until his injuries force him to hide at a riverside campground.
Bailey's Wharf is only a crossroads in Brady's telling, not a town, and even its gas station sells bait.
Q 14In Red Kayak, what is the name of Brady's dog, who jumps into his boat for the search?
Tilly
Tilly leaps aboard uninvited, and Brady only reluctantly lets her stay as he sets off to check the creeks that branch off the main channel.
Q 15In Red Kayak, what is Brady's father's workboat called, in honor of his late daughter?
Miss Amanda
Miss Amanda is faster than Brady's own skiff, and watching it pull ahead during the search sends his mind back to the baby sister the family lost.
Q 16In Red Kayak, what is Brady's full first name, which he signs on his written statement to police?
Braden
Braden Duvall Parks is the name he signs for the police, wishing as he writes that he could somehow separate himself from it.
Q 17In Red Kayak, which illness does Carl say killed Ben after Brady had revived him on the water?
Pneumonia
Pneumonia set in because Ben had inhaled water, Carl explains, and he repeats that Brady was not to blame for the death.
Q 18In Red Kayak, what does Brady wrap around Ben to keep him warm, an item Carl later returns?
His coat
His coat comes back when Carl visits to talk, urging Brady to share what he feels instead of carrying Ben's death alone.
Q 19In Red Kayak, the DiAngelos' new mansion replaced a farm once owned by which relative of Digger's?
His grandfather
His grandfather sold the land and the buyers tore the old farm down, which is why Digger seethes whenever the wealthy newcomers come up.
Q 20In Red Kayak, which serious illness afflicts J.T.'s father, the man who runs the family farm?
Kidney disease
Kidney disease leaves him so unwell that J.T. feels pressure to take over, and J.T. is told he is too young to donate an organ himself.
Q 24In Red Kayak, what first name does Mrs. DiAngelo go by, the neighbor who pays Brady to do yard work?
Gina
Gina DiAngelo, called Virginia in the newspaper report of the rescue, is the friendlier half of the couple, while her husband Marcellus is curt and used to giving orders.
Q 25In Red Kayak, what news does Mrs. DiAngelo confirm to Brady before leaving town to see her husband?
She is pregnant
She is pregnant, and by the end of the novel the DiAngelos have moved away and are expecting the new baby.
Q 26In Red Kayak, what do J.T. and Digger do on the day Brady expects to testify against them?
Plead guilty
They plead guilty, sparing Brady the witness stand, though Digger had insisted he would never confess to his part in the sinking.
Q 27In Red Kayak, how does Brady's father respond to the watermen's protest against new crabbing limits?
He refuses to join
He refuses to join because he believes overfishing the bay would be wrong, and his stand against his own friends pushes Brady to tell the truth.
Q 28In Red Kayak, where did young Brady stay for days at a time with Carl after his baby sister died?
A fire station
A fire station where Carl was training became a home from home: the crew gave Brady his own locker and sometimes let him ride along with them.
Q 29In Red Kayak, in which state does Brady visit his aunt and two cousins, travelling there by train?
Rhode Island
Rhode Island gives Brady a break from home, and in his aunt's photo album he finds the first picture of his sister he has ever seen.
Q 30The author of Red Kayak spent about ten years in which profession before writing children's books?
Journalism
Journalism took her to newspapers in four states, and a series on women in prison earned her UPI's Journalist of the Year award for Virginia.