Heidi — Comprehension Quiz

Based on Chapter I: "Heidi's First Mountain Climb"

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. Who wrote the story of Heidi?
A. Alice Carsey
B. Johanna Spyri
C. Barbel
D. Dete

2. What season is it when Dete and Heidi begin their climb up the mountain?
A. Winter
B. Spring
C. June (summer)
D. Autumn

3. Where were Dete and Heidi walking to at the start of the story?
A. Down to Frankfurt
B. Up the Alm mountain to Uncle's home
C. Into the village of Mayenfeld
D. To the church in Doerfli

4. What was Dete's relationship to Heidi?
A. Her mother
B. Her grandmother
C. Her aunt
D. Her teacher

5. Why was Dete taking Heidi to live with "Alm-Uncle"?
A. Uncle asked for her
B. Dete was going to Frankfurt for a good job and could no longer care for Heidi
C. Heidi wanted to live on the mountain
D. Barbel suggested it

6. What job did Peter do every day?
A. He worked as a carpenter
B. He herded goats up and down the mountain
C. He spun wool for the villagers
D. He worked on a farm

7. Why had the villagers come to distrust and avoid Alm-Uncle?
A. He had wasted his family's fortune, was believed to have hurt someone, and lived a troubled, isolated life
B. He refused to pay his taxes
C. He was a stranger from another country
D. He had stolen from the church

8. Who lived with Peter in the small, dark brown hut?
A. His father and Alm-Uncle
B. His mother Brigitta and his blind grandmother
C. Dete and Barbel
D. No one; he lived alone

Short-Answer Questions

9. Why did Heidi's parents no longer take care of her? Use details from the story to explain what happened to Tobias and Adelaide.

10. Describe how Barbel feels about the plan to leave Heidi with Alm-Uncle. Why does she feel this way?

11. Why do you think the villagers call the old man "Uncle" even though he isn't related to most of them? Explain using details from the text.

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Answer Key

1. B
2. C
3. B
4. C
5. B
6. B
7. A
8. B

9. Heidi's father, Tobias, was killed in an accident two years after marrying Adelaide. Her mother, Adelaide, was so overcome with grief that she became ill with a fever and died two months later. Since then, Heidi had been cared for by her grandmother and aunt Dete.

10. Barbel is worried and thinks it's a bad idea. She says "You must be out of your senses, Dete!" because Alm-Uncle is unfriendly, avoided by everyone, and considered frightening — she doesn't think he can properly care for such a young child.

11. According to Dete, their grandmothers were related, and since her father had family connections with many people in Doerfli, everyone eventually got into the habit of calling the old man "Uncle," even though he wasn't truly related to most villagers.