Q 01/05

In what year was The Catcher in the Rye published as a novel?

A) 1953

B) 1955

C) 1957

D) 1951

Answer · why

D) 1951

Parts of it had already appeared in magazine form in 1945-46; the finished novel came out in July 1951 and was reprinted eight times within two months...

Q 02/05

Who published the novel in July 1951?

A) Harcourt, Brace

B) Random House

C) Charles Scribner's Sons

D) Little, Brown and Company

Answer · why

D) Little, Brown and Company

The publication date slipped from spring to July 16 so a book club could make it a midsummer selection.

Q 03/05

What is the name of the boarding school Holden has just been expelled from?

A) Elkton Hills

B) Pencey Prep

C) Whooton School

D) Choate

Answer · why

B) Pencey Prep

Holden failed nearly every class there; the school sits in the invented town of Agerstown.

Q 04/05

Holden's boarding school is set in a fictional town in which US state?

A) Connecticut

B) New Jersey

C) Massachusetts

D) Pennsylvania

Answer · why

D) Pennsylvania

Salinger himself was sent to a military academy in Wayne, Pennsylvania, which is widely taken as the model for the school.

Q 05/05

Which real school is Holden's prep school thought to be based on?

A) Valley Forge Military Academy

B) Phillips Exeter Academy

C) The Hill School

D) Lawrenceville School

Answer · why

A) Valley Forge Military Academy

Salinger's own file from the academy called him a mediocre student with an IQ recorded between 111 and 115; he graduated in 1936.