The Book of Accidents Quiz: 20 Questions on Plot, Character, and Theme

Plot & Sequence (Questions 1–8) 1. What happens to Edmund Walker Reese when the electric chair is activated?

• A) He dies instantly.

• B) He is transported elsewhere, transformed into something else.

• C) He escapes and flees the prison.

• D) He becomes a ghost haunting the prison. 2. What is the “one condition” Nate must meet to buy his father’s house for a dollar?

• A) He must attend his father’s funeral.

• B) He must clean out the house himself.

• C) He must view his father’s body.

• D) He must promise to live there for a year. 3. What object does Maddie create that later attacks her in her workshop?

• A) A wooden owl.

• B) A cardboard Box Man.

• C) A sculpture of Edmund Reese made from junk.

• D) A metal bird with wire wings. 4. What does Oliver discover in the attic on moving day?

• A) A hidden diary.

• B) A dead mouse encircled by ants in an ant mill.

• C) A locked chest full of old photographs.

• D) A window that opens onto a different world. 5. How does Nate kill the sick whitetail buck?

• A) He shoots it through the eye.

• B) He stabs it with a knife.

• C) He hits it with his truck.

• D) He lets Fig shoot it after fixing his jammed gun. 6. What happens to the girl with the number 37 carved on her cheek?

• A) She is rescued by Nate and Fig.

• B) She vanishes when lightning strikes and a figure resembling Reese appears.

• C) She runs away into the woods and is never found.

• D) She is taken to a hospital by the police. 7. What does Jake use to create a portal in the woods?

• A) A magic wand.

• B) The Book of Accidents.

• C) A coal pick.

• D) A pellet gun. 8. What does Jed Homackie confess to Nate about his family?

• A) He abandoned them to become a writer.

• B) He killed his wife and daughter in a drunk-driving crash.

• C) They were murdered by Edmund Reese.

• D) They left him because of his obsession with the paranormal.

Character Motivation (Questions 9–13) 9. Why does Nate initially refuse his father’s offer to buy the house for a dollar?

• A) He cannot afford the taxes.

• B) He hates his father and suspects a tax scheme.

• C) He wants to live in the city instead.

• D) He is afraid of the house’s supernatural history. 10. Why does Maddie argue for moving to the country house?

• A) She wants to escape her art career.

• B) She believes it will benefit the family, especially Oliver’s trauma from lockdown drills.

• C) She wants to be closer to her gallery.

• D) She hopes to find new sculpting materials. 11. What motivates Jake to target Oliver?

• A) He wants Oliver’s magic book.

• B) He is an alternate-universe Oliver who must sacrifice Oliver to reset the world.

• C) He is jealous of Oliver’s friendship with Caleb.

• D) He wants revenge on Nate for being a cop. 12. Why does Oliver agree to go with Jake to Ramble Rocks near the end of the novel?

• A) To learn magic from Jake.

• B) To protect his friends from Jake’s threats.

• C) To find his father’s body.

• D) To destroy the Book of Accidents. 13. What drives Maddie to continue creating art despite her fear?

• A) She is a “maker” and believes she can create a door to bring Nate back.

• B) She needs money from selling sculptures.

• C) She wants to impress Trudy Breen.

• D) She is compelled by the demon to create.

Theme & Symbol (Questions 14–17) 14. What does the “ant mill” symbolize in the novel?

• A) The inevitability of death.

• B) A destructive cycle that leads to death.

• C) The power of nature to reclaim human structures.

• D) The importance of following the group. 15. What does the Book of Accidents represent?

• A) A record of random misfortunes.

• B) A logbook of mining accidents that reveals hidden truths and enables travel between worlds.

• C) A list of all the characters who die in the novel.

• D) A spellbook that only works for wizards. 16. What does the recurring owl symbolize?

• A) Death and decay.

• B) A protective guide, often associated with Maddie’s creations.

• C) The evil presence of Edmund Reese.

• D) The fragility of life. 17. What does the concept of a “thin place” represent?

• A) A location where the barrier between worlds is weak.

• B) A place where accidents are more likely to happen.

• C) A spot where the ground is unstable.

• D) A portal that only opens during storms.

Synthesis (Questions 18–20) 18. How does the novel explore the theme of cycles of abuse? (Short answer) 19. In what way does the novel suggest that “accidents” are not random? (Short answer) 20. What is the significance of Maddie being a “maker”? (Short answer)

Answer Key

1. B — In Prologue 1, Reese is strapped into the electric chair, and when the switch is flipped, he feels a blinding surge and is “transported elsewhere, not dead but transformed into something else.”

2. C — In Chapter 5, the lawyer confirms the “one condition”: Nate must view his father’s body to accept the dollar offer.

3. C — In Chapter 20, Maddie constructs a figure from junk that blinks and reaches for her throat; she later identifies it as Edmund Reese.

4. B — In Chapter 6, Oliver finds a dead mouse encircled by ants marching in a continuous loop, an ant mill.

5. A — In Chapter 11, Nate kills the deer with a shot through the eye after Fig’s gun jams.

6. B — In Chapter 33, lightning strikes the parking lot, a figure resembling Reese slashes Nate’s face, and the girl vanishes.

7. B — In Chapter 33, Jake opens the Book of Accidents and uses it to create a spiraling portal.

8. B — In Chapter 47, Jed confesses he killed his wife and daughter in a drunk-driving crash.

9. B — In Chapter 2, Nate expresses hatred for his father and suspects the dollar sale is a tax scheme.

10. B — In Chapter 4, Maddie argues that moving will benefit the family, particularly Oliver’s trauma from the ALICE drill.

11. B — Jake is an older, corrupted version of Oliver; he needs to sacrifice Oliver to reset the world, as revealed in Chapter 63 and elsewhere.

12. B — In Chapter 72, Jake threatens to torture Caleb unless Oliver comes to the altar stone by midnight.

13. A — In Chapter 76, Maddie realizes she is a maker and can make doors; she later builds a door to bring Nate back.

14. B — The ant mill is described as a death spiral where ants follow pheromone trails until they die, symbolizing destructive cycles.

15. B — The book is a logbook of mining accidents that also functions as a spellbook, revealing truths and allowing travel between worlds.

16. B — Owls appear as guides, and Maddie carves wooden owls that later attack the demon, signaling her protective role.

17. A — Ramble Rocks is described as a thin place where the barrier between worlds is weak, allowing supernatural events.

18. The novel shows cycles of abuse across generations: Nate’s abusive father, Jake’s alternate Oliver, and the demon’s plan to “break the wheel” all illustrate how trauma repeats unless consciously broken.

19. Accidents are portrayed as breakdowns—the result of entropy, supernatural forces, or systemic failures—rather than random events. The Book of Accidents itself records tragedies that are “accidents that aren’t accidents.”

20. Maddie’s identity as a maker is central: her creations come alive, and she can craft doors between worlds. This ability ultimately allows her to save Oliver and defeat the demon, underscoring the power of creation over destruction.

For deeper discussion, see our questions and answers and ending explained.