The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

The story begins with the narrator asking for information from who?

• Josh Farley

• Simon Wheeler

• Daniel Leonidas

• Emily Tolliver

What was the setting?

• right outside of San Francisco, California in a gold mine

• Hannibal, Missouri—a small riverboat town outside of St. Louis

• Angel’s Camp, a large city in Northern Missouri

• Angel’s Camp, a mining camp in rural California

The tone can best be described as __________.

• humorous

• pleasant

• bitter

• desperate

The first narrator suspects that _________.

• Simon Wheeler’s memory is not very good

• his friend back East had set him up

• Leonidas W. Smiley has moved on to another town

• Jim Smiley has moved on to another country

The example that best shows Smiley’s addiction to gambling with disregard for anything else is the bet he places on _________.

• Dan’l Webster

• Andrew Jackson

• the mare

• Parson Walker’s wife

How does Smiley’s mare make him “uncommon lucky”?

• Her head start enables her to win every race.

• the excited mare wins in spite of her illnesses.

• Jim knows to bet on the other, faster horses.

• The dust the mare kicks up hides the true winner or allows her to get ahead.

An example of hyperbole in this tall tale is Wheeler saying that Smiley ___.

• will change sides in a bet

• wins money on chicken fights

• almost always has good luck

• will follow a bug to Mexico

Which of the following best describes Jim Smiley?

• bored and annoyed

• suspicious and aggressive

• clever and competitive

• gentle and tranquil

Why did people generally bet against Jim Smiley’s animals?

• They hardly ever won the competitions they entered.

• They were sickly looking and did not appear as if they would be any good at fighting or racing.

• The animals did not have any hind legs.

• Both (A) and (B)

How did Jim Smiley’s bulldog win him money?

• Even though it appeared fierce, it gave up at the end of every fight.  Jim would always bet against it, and other people bet on it.

• Jim bet on his dog because he knew it would win.  His dog’s trick was that it would always attack the hind legs of whatever dog it was fighting at the very beginning of the fight.  The other dog would then not be able to stand up for the rest of the fight.

• The dog always gave up for the first part of the fight, letting the other dog win.  People would double their bets against it, and Jim would bet even more money that his dog would win.  When all hope appeared lost, his dog would grab onto the other dog’s hind legs until it gave up.

• His dog was pitiful looking, but it always fought fiercely and won every fight it ever entered by a landslide.