The Witch of Blackbird Pond
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50 free The Witch of Blackbird Pond trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
First published in 1958, The Witch of Blackbird Pond has been a classroom staple for generations. It follows sixteen-year-old Kit Tyler, an orphan raised in sunny island comfort, who arrives uninvited in a stern Puritan settlement in colonial Connecticut and quickly finds that being different can be dangerous. This quiz covers the whole story: the sea voyage and the first suspicious glances, Kit's relatives and suitors, her friendship with the lonely widow the town calls a witch, the night the mob comes, and the trial that follows. A few questions step outside the plot to ask about the author, the awards and the real people and places woven into the book. It is pitched for students reviewing the novel for class, teachers looking for discussion starters, and anyone who read it years ago and wants to see how much stuck. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you learn something even when you miss.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, which skill of Kit Tyler's makes her fellow passengers suspect witchcraft?
Swimming
Swimming was almost unheard of among New England women, so when Kit dived after a dropped doll, Goodwife Cruff began calling her a witch.
Q 02In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Hannah Tupper is shunned by her Puritan neighbours for belonging to which faith?
Quaker
Quaker beliefs got Hannah and her husband driven out of Massachusetts, and her refusal to attend Puritan Meeting keeps the town whispering that she is a witch.
Q 03Fleeing a mob in The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Hannah Tupper refuses to board a rescue ship without what?
Her cat
Her cat mattered so much that Nat Eaton and Kit turned back to chase it down before the ship could carry the old woman to safety.
Q 04At Kit Tyler's trial in The Witch of Blackbird Pond, how does a young girl prove Kit taught her no spells?
Reads from the Bible
She writes her own name and then reads from the Bible, and her father argues the Devil would hardly teach a child scripture.
Q 05In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, what do Nat Eaton and his shipmates set glowing in a rival's unfinished house?
Jack-o'-lanterns
Jack-o'-lanterns grinning from the empty house got Nat banished from town, with a whipping promised if he ever came back.
Q 06Which Shakespeare play involving a shipwreck do Kit Tyler and Nat Eaton both love in The Witch of Blackbird Pond?
The Tempest
The Tempest strands its characters on a far-off island, a fitting favourite for a sea captain's son and a girl raised in the tropics.
Q 07Kit Tyler sails to Puritan Connecticut in The Witch of Blackbird Pond from which Caribbean island, her childhood home?
Barbados
Barbados gave Kit a life of fine dresses, servants and sunshine, so the grey shore and endless chores of New England come as a shock.
Q 08In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, acting out which parable with her pupils gets Kit Tyler's little school shut down?
The Good Samaritan
The Good Samaritan turned into a brawl when the boys playing robbers got rough, just as the schoolmaster walked in on the playacting.
Q 09In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, whose death leaves Kit Tyler homeless and sends her to relatives she has never met?
Her grandfather
Her grandfather had raised Kit after her parents died, and his debts swallowed the estate, leaving her little but seven trunks of fine clothes.
Q 10The Witch of Blackbird Pond is set in which real Connecticut river town, home of Kit Tyler's Puritan relatives?
Wethersfield
Wethersfield is one of Connecticut's oldest towns, and several of its real residents were accused of witchcraft in the 1600s.
Q 11Which American author, a former high school English teacher, wrote The Witch of Blackbird Pond?
Elizabeth George Speare
Elizabeth George Speare began writing seriously only once her two children reached junior high, and this was just her second book.
Q 12The Witch of Blackbird Pond won which top American children's book prize the year after it was published?
Newbery Medal
The Newbery Medal went to the novel in 1959, and its author won it again three years later with a story set in the time of Jesus.
Q 13In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, which wealthy young man courts Kit Tyler but ends up engaged to her cousin Judith?
William Ashby
Q 21In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, which crop do Kit Tyler and her cousin Judith spend a June day weeding?
Onions
Onions bring Kit to tears of self-pity, and the thought that a rich husband would spare her such work makes her dull suitor look better.
Q 22Which autumn party in The Witch of Blackbird Pond, with fiddle music and cider, ends with Judith tossing her lucky find?
A husking bee
A husking bee turned shucking corn into a party where a red ear was the prize find, and newly engaged Judith flings hers at Kit's suitor.
Q 23In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, which holiday does the new royal governor call off, to the family's disappointment?
Thanksgiving
William Ashby talks of building a house on his first evening call, which the family takes as a sure sign that he means to marry Kit.
Q 14Which cousin of Kit Tyler, who walks with crutches, does John Holbrook truly love in The Witch of Blackbird Pond?
Mercy
Mercy hides her feelings while her sister claims John by mistake, and he reaches her only after surviving captivity and collapsing at her feet.
Q 15In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, what strikes the town and turns a mob against Hannah Tupper?
A fever
A fever kills several children, and frightened townspeople decide the lonely widow by the pond must have cursed them.
Q 16In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, what does the mob do to Hannah Tupper's empty house after she slips away?
Burn it down
They burn it down while Hannah watches from hiding, and Kit has to cover the old woman's mouth to keep her cry from giving them away.
Q 17In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, where do Nat Eaton and two shipmates spend Lecture Day as punishment for a prank?
In the stocks
In the stocks, with a boy throwing an apple at his head, Nat tells Kit he does not want her pity and that the prank was worth it.
Q 18In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, what is the name of the trading ship that carries Kit Tyler to New England?
The Dolphin
The Dolphin belongs to Captain Eaton, whose son Nat is first mate and spends the voyage sparring with the passenger he will one day marry.
Q 19In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, what vanishes when the candles go out during the royal governor's meeting?
The colony's charter
The colony's charter was spirited away in the dark, echoing a real 1687 night when colonists are said to have hidden theirs in a hollow oak.
Q 20In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, which college did John Holbrook dream of attending before tuition proved out of reach?
Harvard
Harvard was beyond the savings of a tanner's son who worked by day and studied Latin by night, so he came to study under a minister instead.
Thanksgiving could now be held only when the governor proclaimed it, and the news came after the pies were already baked.
Q 24Which real royal governor arrives with red-coated soldiers to take over Connecticut in The Witch of Blackbird Pond?
Edmund Andros
Edmund Andros was sent by King James II to rule a merged Dominion of New England, and Boston rose up and overthrew him two years later.
Q 25At which Connecticut river-mouth port does Kit Tyler first step ashore in The Witch of Blackbird Pond?
Saybrook
Saybrook is where the Eatons keep their house, and it is also where Hannah Tupper is later taken to live with Nat's grandmother.
Q 26In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Nat Eaton compares Kit Tyler among the Puritans to which out-of-place creature?
A tropical bird
A tropical bird was what young Nat once wanted to bring home, until his father warned that New England's own flocks would peck at it.
Q 27In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, which job do Kit Tyler and Nat Eaton finish side by side at Hannah Tupper's house?
Thatching the roof
Thatching the roof leaves the two sitting quietly on top of the house, where Kit finds she feels more at peace than anywhere in town.
Q 28In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, what name is given to the home classroom where Kit Tyler teaches small children?
A dame school
A dame school was a small class kept by a woman in her own house, and the pupils' families paid in coins or bartered eggs instead.
Q 29In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, which silver lesson tool found at Hannah Tupper's house is traced to Kit Tyler?
A hornbook
A hornbook was a small paddle printed with the alphabet, and Kit's bore her initial, which was enough to bring a charge of witchcraft.
Q 30Which timid child of the spiteful Goodwife Cruff becomes Kit Tyler's devoted friend in The Witch of Blackbird Pond?
Prudence
Prudence starts as a child her own mother calls too stupid to learn and ends as the witness whose testimony sets Kit free.