Betty Smith Trivia

1. What year is this book set in?

From Quiz Joy In The Morning

Answer: 1927

In this year there were still cuspidors for men who chewed tobacco. This is mentioned in the book.

From Quiz Betty Smith - "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"

Answer: Johnny's brother's fiancee

Johnny's brother died, leaving behind his fiancee whose name would have been Frances Nolan, so Johnny decided to name his daughter this to make the fiancee feel better. Special thanks to LilahDeDah for her valuable correction

From Quiz "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Joanna

Joanna is the mother of a bastard. The other women insult her because they don't think she should walk her baby in front of everybody else- the baby should be hidden. Joanna doesn't listen and proudly shows off her baby. Anne Laurie is Francie's little sister, Sissy is Francie's aunt, and Mary Rommely is Francie's grandmother.

From Quiz Joy In The Morning

Answer: Laughed

The porch swing incident showed this new couple's first fight.

From Quiz Betty Smith - "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"

Answer: brown

The janitor would always put flowers in the brown bowl on the librarian's desk, different flowers for every season.

From Quiz "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" Trivia Quiz

Answer: pneumonia

The doctor was about to put down the reason for death as acute alcoholism and pneumonia, because the alcohol was a contributing factor, but Katie didn't want to tell her children that his drinking had contributed to the death.

From Quiz Joy In The Morning

Answer: Torts

Carl made fun of Annie for using this word in her play.

From Quiz Betty Smith - "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"

Answer: pneumonia

Although Johnny died of both alcoholism and pneumonia, Katie convinced the doctor to just put pneumonia on the certificate so her children wouldn't need to be embarrassed.

From Quiz "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" Trivia Quiz

Answer: "Molly Malone"

"Molly Malone" is the song that Johnny sings before he comes to the door each night, and is his favorite song. "Auld Lang Syne" is the song that everybody started to sing on New Years, "Annie Laurie" is the song that Johnny uses to sing and the reason why they named the new baby Annie Laurie Nolon, and "I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier" was the popular anti-war song that people sang in Francie's neighborhood.

From Quiz Joy In The Morning

Answer: Bittersweet

These look like sprigs of orange-red berries in open yellow husks.

From Quiz Betty Smith - "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"

Answer: So you can tell your right arm from your left arm

Francie became upset when she found out she needed to go by herself to get vaacinated and wanted to know why she had to go.

From Quiz "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" Trivia Quiz

Answer: "The Nation"

"Tomorrow Will Be Better"-1947, "Maggie-Now"-1958, "Joy in the Morning"-1963. "The Nation", written by James Agee, reviewed the 1945 film version of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", prasing it as a "....more interesting and likeable movie than most."

From Quiz Joy In The Morning

Answer: Squirrel

They came every year on Henry's birthday. He would set out a bag of nuts.

From Quiz Betty Smith - "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"

Answer: Francie wanted to go, so she would find a way on her own

Neeley didn't want to go back to achool, so Katie said he must go or else he never would get an education. Katie knew Francie would manage to get an education on her own.

From Quiz "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" Trivia Quiz

Answer: "Serene was a word you could put to Brooklyn, New York."

All quotes are from the first chapter of the book.

From Quiz Joy In The Morning

Answer: Turtle

The chef told her it was an aphrodisiac, in a shocking way.

From Quiz Betty Smith - "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"

Answer: The fire escape

Francie thought that it was like living in a tree when she sat on her balcony, because the top of the tree growing in the courtyard came up to her balcony.

From Quiz "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" Trivia Quiz

Answer: 5

There are five books, some longer then the others.

From Quiz Joy In The Morning

Answer: Jello

His name was Michelangelo, then it was shortened.

From Quiz Joy In The Morning

Answer: War and Peace

She picked this book because it was the biggest.

From Quiz Betty Smith - "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"

Answer: Lee

Lee told Francie that he loved her while he was stationed in Brooklyn, but Francie later found out that he was engaged.

From Quiz "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" Trivia Quiz

Answer: El Train

The El Train is the train Francie takes to get to work in New York.

From Quiz Joy In The Morning

Answer: Carlton

The baby was named after his father.

From Quiz Betty Smith - "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"

Answer: Italian

She adopted her first baby from an unmarried Italian girl, and tried to convince everybody that she gave birth to it.

From Quiz "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" Trivia Quiz

Answer: baseball glove

The new pennies were given to Francie in a little matchbox from her aunt; Kate got a new hat from Neeley; and Neeley asked for Francie to get him spats for Christmas.

From Quiz Joy In The Morning

Answer: Annie Brown

Her husband's last name was of German origin before WWI.

From Quiz Betty Smith - "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"

Answer: One of Johnny's songs.

"Twas there that Annie Laurie/ Gave me her promise true."

From Quiz "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sissy used a Jew to help her give birth

This was not Sissy's first childbirth, because she had given birth to many other children, but they were stillborn. Also, the midwife would have gladly helped Sissy give birth, but she wanted to go to a hospital and use a doctor.

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