IMPORTANT: Comprehension questions will be in chronological order as you read through the story. Page numbers are approximate, and will vary with different editions of the book.
Section 1: Chapters 1 – 5
Vocabulary
- glisten: (of something wet or greasy) shine; glitter
- cogitate: to think deeply about something; meditate or reflect
- vanish: disappear suddenly and completely
- mutter: say something in a low or barely audible voice, especially in dissatisfaction or irritation
- velocity: the speed of something in a given direction
- ledger: a book or other collection of financial accounts of a particular type
- contraption: a machine or device that appears strange or unnecessarily complicated, and often badly made or unsafe
Vocabulary Usage in the Book
- Over its entire surface it was covered with cleverly fitted sections of metal sheeting so that it glistened and gleamed in the morning sun like some marvelous, silvery fish.(Ch. 5, pg. 32)
- “But it’s a joke,” said Dr. Topman firmly, after a moment or two in which he must have been cogitating. (Ch. 1, pg. 5)
- “Well, by George,” said Dr. Topman, “I’ll bet Mr. Bass has vanished by now.” (Ch. 1, pg. 5)
- But Dr. Topman only muttered to himself something about its being a crime to lead children on like that, and about there being a catch to it somewhere. (Ch. 1, pg. 6)
- Finally, quite a bit later, and still thinking hard about frameworks and pressure and velocity and all that, he climbed into bed and curled into a ball. (Ch. 1, pg. 9)
- It came from the window of Mr. Bass’s cellar, and if you peeked in, you would have seen a little old man bending over an enormous ledger. (Ch. 2, pg. 11)
- And he looked over to where a large, shining, complicated contraption rested on a broad shelf. (Ch. 2, pg. 12)
Comprehension Questions
- Every night when David goes to bed he takes off in his own imaginary ship. (Ch. 1, pg. 4)
- David’s mother winks at him when she gives him her scissors because she wants him to cut out the newspaper ad and make a spaceship. (Ch. 1, pg. 6)
- David and Chuck need to keep their plans secret so that no other boys would see what they were doing and steal their ideas. (Ch. 1, pg. 9)
- David wants to find a planet just his size, one that can be explored in a day or two. (Ch. 1, pg. 10)
- Mr. Bass thinks he is like a child as he can hardly wait to find out who the child will be who answers his advertisement. (Ch. 2, pg. 16)
- David doesn’t want to look for Thallo Street with Chuck because if there isn’t a Thallo Street, then there isn’t any reason to build a spaceship. (Ch. 3, pg. 21)
- Chuck hates being left out of what is going on more than anything else. (Ch. 3, pg. 22)
- Chuck avoids having to flatten all the tin cans by suggesting that they use the left over tin sheets at Cap’n Tom’s boathouse to cover the spaceship. (Ch. 3, pg. 23)
- Mrs. Topman is worried about her son David because he is so busy that he barely eats half of his lunch. (Ch. 4, pg. 27)
- When Mr. Topman finds Mr. Bass’s house on Thallo Street he walks through the garden and tries to peek into the window, but is startled when the window flies open. (Ch. 4, pgs. 29/30)
- On their way to Mr. Bass’s house, Chuck and David notice that their spaceship seems bigger than it was the night before. (Ch. 5, pg. 32)
- When Mr. Bass sees David and Chuck’s spaceship he is amazed by their beautiful work and tells them it is far beyond his wildest dreams. (Ch. 5, pg. 35)
Section 2: Chapters 6 – 10
Vocabulary
- innumerable: too many to be counted
- spore: typically a one-celled, reproductive unit such as lower plants, fungai and protozoans
- orb: a spherical body such as a globe, celestial body
- satellite: an artificial body placed in orbit around the earth or moon or another planet in order to collect Information or for communication
- brink: an extreme edge of land before a steep or vertical slope
- vector: a course to be taken by aircraft
- serene: calm, peaceful and untroubled; tranquil
Vocabulary Usage in the Book
- There the boys caught just a glimpse of innumerable tiny white shapes that spread away and away – a glimmering of hundreds of little bald heads that seemed miniatures of Mr. Bass’s own. (Ch. 6, pg. 39)
- “Why, in the shape of a spore, I should imagine,”” replied Mr. Bass lightly. (Ch. 6, pg. 42)
- There were two awesome pictures, one of Mars, and enormous pinkish orb webbed over with green canals, hanging in the black sky about Deimos, its satellite. (Ch. 6, pg. 40)
- “There were two awesome pictures, one of Mars, and enormous pinkish orb webbed over with green canals, hanging in the black sky about Deimos, its satellite. (Ch. 6, pg. 40)
- “…At any rate, days passed, and nights,” went on Mr. Bass, “For I was so impatient at feeling myself on the brink of discovering my ancient homeland that I scarcely stopped for food or sleep.” (Ch. 6, pg. 44)
- “There, now – that puts us on the beam, on the what-do-you-call it, the right vector, and we don’t have to worry.” (Ch. 9, pg. 73)
- And there still hung moon, David noticed in wonder, looking at them as serenely as though an absolutely unheard of event had not just take place. (Ch. 9, pg. 75)
Comprehension Questions
- David thinks Mr. Bass’s huge, pale head, small face, enormous liquid eyes, and long spindly arms and hands are strange. (Ch. 6, pg. 38)
- Mr. Bass’s family has always grown mushrooms for markets. (Ch. 6, pgs. 38/39)
- David and Chuck see maps of the heavens and pictures of planets on the walls of Mr. Bass’s living room. (Ch. 6, pg. 39)
- Mr. Bass reveals to David and Chuck that he believes he and his people come from another planet. (Ch. 6, pg. 41)
- Mr. Bass thinks he is from another planet because he is so different in appearance. (Ch. 6, pgs. 41/42)
- Mr. Bass’s planet hasn’t been discovered, as it is invisible with the use of normal telescopes. (Ch. 6, pgs. 42/43)
- Mr. Bass chooses children to build the spaceship as an airplane company would have made a huge spaceship with lots of people in it and this would frighten the Mushroom People. (Ch. 7, pg. 52)
- David and Chuck need to blast off at exactly midnight as if they leave later they might not hit the planet at all. (Ch. 8, pgs. 59/60)
- David is worried about meeting the Mushroom People as they may not speak the same language and if that is the case how will he know what their problem is and how to help them. (Ch. 8, pg. 62)
- Mr. Bass doesn’t go on the voyage himself as he believes only children can help and he is an adult. Also, he believes he has something he has to prepare for something important on earth. (Ch. 8, pg. 63)
- David and Chuck forget to bring the canning jar to collect Basidium air and a mascot. (Ch. 9, pgs. 70/71)
- It was silent inside the spaceship because the spaceship was traveling at such a fast speed that they had passed through the sound barriers and sound was lagging behind. (Ch. 10, pg. 76)
- The spaceship has to travel at 25,000 miles per hour in order to pull away from the earth’s gravity. (Ch. 10, pg. 81)
Section 3: Chapters 11 – 15
Vocabulary
- exasperate: irritate intensely; infuriate
- experiment: a scientific procedure undertaken to make a discovery, test a hypothesis, or demonstrate a known fact
- inscribe: write or carve words or symbols, on something especially as a formal or permanent record
- resemble: have qualities or features, especially those of appearance, in common with (something or someone); look or seem like
- stifle: make someone unable to breathe properly; suffocate
- tragic: causing or characterized by extreme distress or sorrow
- waver: shake with a quivering motion; become unsteady or unreliable
Vocabulary Usage in the Book
- “But we’ve got to find the Mushroom People!”” he exclaimed, about to explode with exasperation. (Ch. 11, pg. 89)
- “But haven’t your Wise Men ever made experiments to solve puzzles?” (Ch. 13, pg. 104)
- “… The only time you are sensible is when you inscribe in your Rolls of Wisdom.” (Ch. 12, pg. 95)
- Of course, Mr. Bass was a Basidiumite, though of a race that had lived long on earth, surely they would resemble him in some way or another. (Ch. 11, pg. 85)
- “I’m Chuck Masterson,” added Chuck, sounding rather stifled. (Ch. 12, pg. 100)
- “There’s no help for it,” he said tragically, his huge eyes swimming with tears. (Ch. 12, pg. 95)
- Through the wavering green light they made out that this entire world was pale. (Ch. 11, pg. 86)
Comprehension Questions
- Before landing on Basidium X, David notices that his voice has become strange, it is high pitched and delicate. (Ch. 11, pg. 84)
- When Chuck first gets out of the spaceship he sits down, opens up his backpack and takes out some pickles, boiled eggs and sandwiches to eat. (Ch. 11, pgs. 88/89)
- While David and Chuck are eating outside the spaceship two old men approach beating their chests with their heads to the sky and crying. (Ch. 11, pgs. 90/91)
- Mebe and Oru are crying when they first meet David and Chuck because they will have their heads cut off the next morning. (Ch. 12, pg. 94)
- David stops the argument between Mebe and Oru by asking them to take he and Chuck to see the Great Ta, and then tells Mebe to speak first then Oru. (Ch. 12, pgs. 95/96)
- According to Mebe the trouble in Basidium X is that the planet has run out of the magical plant that the Mushroom People need to eat to stay a healthy green color. (Ch. 12, pg. 97)
- Ta believes that the change in the temperature of the air has caused the Trouble on Basidium X. (Ch. 12, pgs. 98/99)
- David doesn’t tell the Mushroom People how his clothes are made because he realizes that it would be impossible to explain sheep, wool, cotton, manufacturing and zippers to them. (Ch. 13, pg. 107)
- David’s first idea for solving the Trouble on Basidium X is for the Mushroom People to drink the water that fed the magic plants that they used to eat. (Ch. 13, pg. 113)
- Chuck realizes that the Trouble on Basidium X is related to the smell, and the smell is the same as that of the boiled eggs, sulfur. (Ch. 14, pg. 123)
- As Chuck and David are about to leave Basidium X, Davis asks Ta to spare the lives of the two wise men. (Ch. 14, pg. 130)
- David doesn’t want to tell the world about Basidium X because he doesn’t want outsiders tramping over the planet and scaring the Mushroom People or changing the planet. (Ch. 15, pg. 138)
Section 4: Chapters 16 – 20
Vocabulary
- deliberate: done consciously and intentionallyiInterval: a pause, break in activity
- luminous: full of or shedding light; bright or shining, especially in the dark
- ominous: giving the impression that something bad or unpleasant is going to happen
- onslaught: a fierce or destructive attack
- quiver: tremble or shake with a slight rapid motion
- segment: each of the parts into which something is or may be divided
Vocabulary Usage in the Book
- “Mr. Bass never did what anyone expected of him to, I guess,” and with trembling fingers he turned the envelope over and over, and at last, very deliberately with his tongue in the corner of his mouth, he tore open one end and drew forth two folded sheets of paper. (Ch. 20, pg. 184)
- Forces of lightning sprang at them, and in the intervals of its brilliance, they could see how the clouds were boiling and surging on all sides. (Ch. 16, pg. 147)
- The marvel of that luminous arc overhead, set with its great constellations, was enough. (Ch. 16, pg. 145)
- Now they plugged ahead again in a kind of queer, ominous stillness. (Ch. 17, pg. 157)
- Surely that tiny figure, frail as a dried leaf, could not withstand the onslaught of the wild wind a moment longer. (Ch. 17, pg. 152)
- But the most fearsome thing of all was the quivering of the space ship. (Ch. 16, pg. 147)
- Like a plummet their ship was dropping toward earth straight into the zone of dawn gray which was their own slim segment of the western hemisphere. (Ch. 16, pg. 146)
Comprehension Questions
- Due to the storm, David and Chuck fear they are being swept off course and will land in the middle of the ocean rather than the ground. (Ch. 16, pg. 147)
- As David and Chuck are about to land they see Mr. Bass on the beach. (Ch. 16, pg. 150)
- The first thing Mr. Bass asks the boys is to show him the bottle of Basidium air. (Ch. 17, pg. 154)
- Mr. Bass wants to wait until the next day to hear about Basidium X because although the boys do not realize it they are very tired and he doesn’t want anything skipped. (Ch. 17, pg. 155)
- When David gets home he is a little sad as he realizes that Mrs. Pennyfeather is 50,000 miles away all alone. (Ch. 17, pg. 158)
- On the morning news David and his mother hear that a little boy called in to say that he saw his neighbor being swept up into the sky by a gale wind. (Ch. 18, pg. 167)
- When David goes to the beach to check on the spaceship he sees that it is gone. (Ch. 18, pg. 169)
- Mr. Bass had “always said that he would blow away some time” because he was a spore person. (Ch. 19, pg. 179)
- Cap’n Tom finds a letter from Tycho M. Bass addressed to the David and Chuck in the cellar of Mr. Bass’s house. (Ch. 20, pg. 183)
- Mr. Bass wishes his house and property to be used as the headquarters and meeting place of a society, the Young Astronomers and Students of Space Travel. (Ch. 20, pg. 186)
- The boys choose Cap’n Tom to be the President of the Society of Young Astronomers and Students of Space Travel because he is scientific, a topnotch navigator, and because he is humorous and has imagination. (Ch. 20, pg. 192)