The Secret Life of Bees
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50 free The Secret Life of Bees trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Sue Monk Kidd's debut novel has been a classroom and book-club staple for two decades. It follows fourteen-year-old Lily Owens through the summer of 1964, when she runs from a harsh father and finds shelter with three beekeeping sisters. This quiz spans the whole story: Lily's escape with Rosaleen, the Boatwright household and its rituals, the secrets about Lily's mother, and the bee lore that frames every chapter. A few questions look at the author and at the 2008 film adaptation. It suits students revising for a test, reading groups who want a friendly challenge, and anyone who read the book years ago and wonders how much has stuck.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which image on August's honey jars matches a picture Lily's mother owned in The Secret Life of Bees?
A Black Madonna
A Black Madonna looks out from every jar, and that label is how Lily tracks the sisters down. About 400 to 500 Black Madonnas have been recorded across Europe.
Q 02Which punishment does T. Ray give Lily after catching her in the orchard in The Secret Life of Bees?
Kneeling on grits
Kneeling on grits is T. Ray's signature cruelty, yet it was pure invention. Kidd had never heard of such a punishment before it came to her while drafting the scene.
Q 03What color is the house where the beekeeping Boatwright sisters live in The Secret Life of Bees?
Pink
Pink paint makes the sisters' home easy to find. On the 2008 film set, it took three tries to mix a shade Kidd likened to Pepto-Bismol.
Q 04What does May Boatwright build of stones, tucking slips of paper inside, in The Secret Life of Bees?
A wailing wall
A wailing wall gives May a place to set down each sorrow she cannot bear. Readers have since built copies in schools, a hospital and therapists' offices.
Q 05Where do bees swarm around Lily Owens each night in the opening pages of The Secret Life of Bees?
In her bedroom
In her bedroom, bees squeeze through cracks and circle Lily in the dark. Kidd took the image from life: a hive lived inside her family's Georgia home for eighteen years.
Q 06Which music star turned actress plays August Boatwright in the 2008 film of The Secret Life of Bees?
Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah plays the eldest sister, who runs the family honey business. She came to the part with an Oscar nomination for the musical Chicago behind her.
Q 07Which young actress plays Lily Owens in the 2008 film of The Secret Life of Bees?
Dakota Fanning
Dakota Fanning shot the summer scenes in freezing February weather. She held ice in her mouth between lines so her breath would not show on camera.
Q 08How did the mother of Lily Owens die when Lily was four years old in The Secret Life of Bees?
A gunshot
A gunshot killed her during a fight with T. Ray, when little Lily picked up the dropped weapon and it went off. The police inquiry ruled it a tragic accident.
Q 09What was the name of May Boatwright's twin sister, who died at fifteen, in The Secret Life of Bees?
April
April died young after feeling the world's cruelty too keenly, a loss May never got over. With June and August, the women are known as the Calendar Sisters.
Q 10Which instrument does June Boatwright play at the bedsides of the dying in The Secret Life of Bees?
The cello
The cello is June's comfort for the dying, and she also plays it at the sisters' Sunday services. By day she teaches history and English at the local high school.
Q 11In which state is The Secret Life of Bees set, mostly in the fictional town of Tiburon?
South Carolina
South Carolina is where Kidd did her bee research too: she toured an apiary there and sketched the honey-house equipment to learn how honey is made.
Q 12Which landmark law does President Johnson sign in the opening chapter of The Secret Life of Bees?
The Civil Rights Act
The Civil Rights Act became law on July 2, 1964, barring discrimination in public places. The tension it stirs up shadows every town Lily passes through.
Q 13Why is Rosaleen walking into town when three white men confront her in The Secret Life of Bees?
To register to vote
Q 21Lily Owens turns fourteen on which US holiday, when Rosaleen is arrested, in The Secret Life of Bees?
Independence Day
Independence Day is Lily's birthday, and she marks it by breaking free herself: within hours she has left T. Ray and taken Rosaleen with her.
Q 22How do Lily and Rosaleen travel most of the way to Tiburon after fleeing in The Secret Life of Bees?
By hitchhiking
By hitchhiking, the pair make it to Tiburon, but only after spending their first night of freedom asleep beside a creek.
Q 23Where in Tiburon does Lily first spot the honey jars that lead her to August in The Secret Life of Bees?
A general store
To register to vote, Rosaleen sets out on Lily's birthday but ends the day under arrest. She finally gets her name on the rolls in Tiburon at the end of the summer.
Q 14What does Rosaleen pour on three white men's shoes, leading to her arrest, in The Secret Life of Bees?
Snuff juice
Snuff juice from her bottle goes over their shoes after the men taunt her on the road. Kidd borrowed the snuff habit from the woman who helped raise her.
Q 15What do the Boatwrights name the ship's figurehead they revere as Mary in The Secret Life of Bees?
Our Lady of Chains
Our Lady of Chains takes her name from a legend the sisters retell: each time a slave master bound the statue, she escaped and returned to the enslaved workers who prayed to her.
Q 16What does Zach Taylor, August's teenage helper, hope to become in The Secret Life of Bees?
A lawyer
A lawyer is Zach's goal even though Lily has never heard of an African American one. A Tiburon attorney, Clayton Forrest, lends him law books and backs the dream.
Q 17What does Lily Owens dream of becoming, urged on by her English teacher, in The Secret Life of Bees?
A writer
A writer is what Lily means to be, and she fills a notebook with stories starring Rosaleen, August and Zach. Kidd says she wanted the same thing as a girl.
Q 18Which singer, heard on the soundtrack, plays June Boatwright in the 2008 film of The Secret Life of Bees?
Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys plays the proud middle sister and gave the film her song Doncha Know (Sky Is Blue). No soundtrack album was ever released.
Q 19Which actress plays Rosaleen in the 2008 film of The Secret Life of Bees?
Jennifer Hudson
Jennifer Hudson took the part two years after her debut film made her an Oscar winner. On screen, the sisters welcome Rosaleen into the family with a new name, July.
Q 20Which crop does T. Ray Owens grow on the land Lily runs away from in The Secret Life of Bees?
Peaches
Peaches are T. Ray's living, and Rosaleen picked them in his orchard before he hired her to keep house.
A general store is where Lily and Rosaleen stop for lunch, and the man behind the counter tells her who makes the honey and how to find the house.
Q 24What lie does Lily Owens tell the Boatwright sisters on arrival in The Secret Life of Bees?
She is an orphan
She is an orphan bound for an aunt in Virginia, Lily claims. August sees through the story but asks no questions and waits for the truth.
Q 25Which women's prayer group gathers in the Boatwright parlor on Sundays in The Secret Life of Bees?
The Daughters of Mary
The Daughters of Mary turn up in flamboyant hats, and their circle includes one man, Otis Hill. Book clubs have since held parties in copycat hats.
Q 26Where do the Boatwright sisters find May's body, a stone resting on her chest, in The Secret Life of Bees?
In a river
May is found in a river, lying in two feet of water where she had walked at dusk with a flashlight. Her note says she is tired of carrying the world's weight.
Q 27What news, hidden from May Boatwright by her sisters, leads to her death in The Secret Life of Bees?
Zach has been jailed
Zach has been jailed after a friend's thrown bottle cut a white man and nobody would name the culprit. His mother lets the secret slip when she rings the house.
Q 28Why does June Boatwright keep refusing to marry her suitor Neil in The Secret Life of Bees?
She was once jilted
She was once jilted at the altar, so June turns Neil down again and again. She finally says yes after May's farewell note urges her sisters to live.
Q 29How did August Boatwright, back in Virginia, first come to know Lily's mother in The Secret Life of Bees?
As her nanny
As her nanny, August helped raise Lily's mother in Virginia, long before she inherited the bee business. That is why the unhappy wife later fled to Tiburon for shelter.
Q 30How does T. Ray finally trace the runaway Lily Owens to Tiburon in The Secret Life of Bees?
A collect call
A collect call that Lily makes from a Tiburon law office, hoping her father has missed her, gives her away. He only yells, so she hangs up.