Wishtree
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40 free Wishtree trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Wishtree is told by a tree. Red has watched over the same neighborhood for generations, sheltering families of animals and holding the hopes that people tie to the branches every Wishing Day. Then a new family moves in, a cruel word is carved into the trunk, and Red decides that watching is no longer enough. This quiz follows the whole story: Red and the sharp-tongued Bongo, Samar and Stephen, the animal families and their odd names, Francesca's threat to bring the tree down, and the old tale of Maeve that explains how the wishing began. A few questions cover Katherine Applegate, her other books and the nature facts tucked into the novel. It is written for students who have just finished the book, for teachers and librarians running a class read-aloud, and for families who read it together. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so the quiz works as a review as well as a test.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In Wishtree, the narrator Red shelters animal families in its hollows and is which kind of tree?
Oak
Oak is the answer: Red is a northern red oak, a species Katherine Applegate picked because it is common, so young readers could spot one growing near home.
Q 02Bongo, Red's sharp-tongued companion in Wishtree, is which kind of bird known for using tools?
Crow
Crow is correct, and Bongo shows how clever her kind can be: she mimics voices and sounds, and even tries a tool when a stubborn knot defeats her beak.
Q 03In Wishtree, newcomer Samar slips out to Red after dark and whispers a wish for what?
A friend
A friend is all Samar asks for, and her wish pushes Red to act for once instead of only watching, hatching plans with Bongo to bring her and the boy next door together.
Q 04Which message is carved into Red's trunk in Wishtree as a threat to Samar's family?
LEAVE
LEAVE is the word cut into the bark, and it puts Red in danger too: owner Francesca decides the carving is one more reason to have the old tree cut down.
Q 05Wishing Day in Wishtree, when neighbors tie hopes to Red, falls on the first day of which month?
May
May opens with Wishing Day, and the custom began with Maeve, who tied the very first wish to Red long before Samar's family arrived.
Q 06Which rule of the natural world does Red break in Wishtree to help Samar and Stephen?
Never speak to humans
Never speak to humans is the rule Red sets aside, calling out to the two children one evening and then telling them the long story of Maeve.
Q 07In the second plan in Wishtree, what does little Flashlight do in front of the two children?
Plays dead
Plays dead is the baby opossum's trick, in the hope the two children will team up to rescue him, but they simply go and ask their parents for help.
Q 08On Wishing Day in Wishtree, local children answer the carved threat with wishes bearing which word?
STAY
STAY appears on card after card because Stephen rallied his classmates to write it, turning Red's branches into a public reply to the vandal.
Q 09Samar's family in Wishtree is singled out by some neighbors for following which religion?
Islam
Islam is the family's faith, and Katherine Applegate wrote the book in the summer of 2016 as a plea for civility toward newcomers.
Q 10Wishtree author Katherine Applegate won the Newbery Medal for which novel narrated by a gorilla?
The One and Only Ivan
The One and Only Ivan draws on a real gorilla who spent about 27 years living at a shopping mall in Washington state.
Q 11Maeve, who starts the wish custom in Wishtree, came to America as an orphan from which country?
Ireland
Ireland was Maeve's home until 1848, and she brought its custom of tying wishes to a tree with her, hanging the first one on Red herself.
Q 12In Wishtree, what name does Maeve give the abandoned baby she adopts and raises as her own?
Amadora
Amadora grew up to buy both houses beside Red and rent them out, and her great-granddaughter Francesca owns them still.
Q 13Which Wishtree animals, led by a mother called BigYou, give every one of their babies the name You?
Raccoons
Raccoons in the story skip separate names altogether, so mother BigYou simply calls each of her kits You while raising them in one of Red's hollows.
Q 21In Wishtree, Red counts age in rings rather than birthdays; how many rings old is the narrator?
216
216 rings makes Red older than the neighborhood's wish custom itself: the tree was already standing when Maeve arrived in 1848.
Q 22Samar's family in Wishtree moves into the small house of which color, next door to Stephen's home?
Blue
Blue is Samar's house and green is Stephen's, and the two share the yard where Red grows, so the tree sees everything that passes between them.
Q 23Francesca complains in Wishtree that Red's roots are interfering with which part of her property?
The plumbing
The plumbing is her complaint, and the carving tips her over: with roots, fallen foliage and now vandalism, cutting Red down seems easier.
Q 14In Wishtree, the skunks living under the porch beside Red choose their own names based on what?
A pleasant smell
A pleasant smell is every skunk's pick, a sly joke about animals known for the opposite, and FreshBakedBread's family lives under the porch beside Red.
Q 15Francesca's two runaway kittens in Wishtree have needed rescuing before; what are they called?
Lewis and Clark
Lewis and Clark live up to their explorer names, and on Wishing Day the pair even scramble into Red's branches alongside the wild animals.
Q 16Which loud sound does Bongo imitate in Wishtree to wake the sleeping Stephen during the third plan?
A fire engine siren
A fire engine siren does the job after quieter efforts fail, and it suits Bongo, who greets Samar with a perfect copy of the girl's own hello.
Q 17In Wishtree, the tiny silver gift that Bongo brings Samar later opens which of Maeve's belongings?
Her diary
Her diary holds, in Maeve's own words, the same story Red told the children, and reading it is what finally changes Francesca's mind.
Q 18Red and Bongo's first plan in Wishtree has Bongo steal what from Stephen for Samar to return?
His homework
His homework goes missing as planned, but the scheme flops when Samar hands it to one of the boy's pals instead of to Stephen himself.
Q 19What do riders in a passing car throw at Red's trunk the day before Wishing Day in Wishtree?
Eggs
Eggs splatter the bark, but Red's animal tenants turn the insult into a meal and eat them.
Q 20By old custom in Wishtree, people usually write their wishes on what before tying them to Red?
Scraps of cloth
Scraps of cloth are the traditional choice, echoing real rag trees, where strips of fabric are tied on beside holy wells.
Q 24In Wishtree, young Maeve works as a cook and cleaner but becomes known locally for which gift?
Nursing the sick
Nursing the sick was how Maeve helped her poor neighbors, some of whom judged her harshly when she adopted an abandoned baby.
Q 25What does Maeve ask for in the very first wish ever tied to Red in Wishtree?
Someone to love
Someone to love arrives when a desperate young mother tucks her baby into one of Red's hollows, and Maeve adopts the child despite the gossip.
Q 26Bongo, the outspoken bird living in Red's branches in Wishtree, is best described by which word?
A pessimist
A pessimist by nature, Bongo is the sarcastic foil to hopeful Red, yet she is the one resident who will not say goodbye when Red seems doomed.
Q 27Before Wishtree, Katherine Applegate co-wrote which series about teens fighting an alien invasion?
Animorphs
Animorphs ran to 54 books between 1996 and 2001 and sold more than 35 million copies, written with her husband, Michael Grant.
Q 28Wishtree won a booksellers' Read Aloud Award named after which author of Charlotte's Web?
E.B. White
E.B. White wrote the book Katherine Applegate credits with turning her into a reader, which makes the 2018 prize for Wishtree a fitting one.
Q 29Which birds made two of the three hollows where Red's animal tenants live in Wishtree?
Woodpeckers
Woodpeckers made two of the hollows and a storm that tore off a branch left the third, so each of Red's guest rooms began as an injury.
Q 30Who uses a small metal object to cut the threatening word into Red's bark in Wishtree?
An unnamed teenager
An unnamed teenager does it, and the book tells readers nothing more about who he is, keeping its eyes on how the neighbors respond.