Comprehension Questions- Magic Tree House Merlin Missions #4 Winter of the Ice Wizard

 Winter of the Ice Wizard

by Mary Pope Osborne

Grades 3-5; Genre - Fantasy; GRL N

Jack and Annie are summoned to the Land-Behind-the-Clouds and are sent on a task for the Ice Wizard to retrieve his eye from the Norns by daybreak in order to free Merlin and Morgan.

Comprehension Questions

Chapter 1

  1. What were Jack and Annie doing with their mom?  making cookies   p. 1
  2. What is winter solstice?  first day of winter/ shortest day of the year  p. 2
  3. Who had come to visit Jack and Annie?  Kathleen and Teddy   p. 7
  4. What were the monsters that almost ran over Teddy and Kathleen? cars p. 8

Chapter 2

  1. What were the children looking for in this bleak land?  Merlin's Staff of Strength  p. 14
  2. How was Kathleen able to see the animals so far away?  keen eyesight of a seal  p. 16
  3. What was the palace made out of?  huge blocks of ice   p. 18

Chapter 3

  1. Who was the man in the castle waiting for Jack and Annie?  Ice Wizard  p. 25
  2. Why did he write the note from Merlin to Jack and Annie?  to trick them into coming to see him  p. 25
  3. What did the Ice Wizard want Jack and Annie to do for him?  bring back his eye  p. 28
  4. What did the wizard give Jack and Annie to help speed up their journey?  wind-string  p. 30

Chapter 4

  1. Tell me about the Norns.  They are the Sisters of Fate, weave tapestries that tell of people's fates  p. 33
  2. How many knots did Jack have to untie to make the sleigh move fast enough from the wolves?  three   p. 36
  3. How did Kathleen help Jack and Annie find the Norns?  talked to the seals under the ice   p. 42
  4. Why were only Jack and Annie supposed to deal with the Sisters?  only mortals can make deals with the sisters  p. 43

Chapter 5

  1. Whose story were the sisters weaving when Jack and Annie arrived?  Ice Wizard's  p. 49
  2. What did he trade his eye for?  seeds of wisdom   p. 49
  3. Why did the sisters give the eye to the Frost Giant?  So he would hopefully choose to care for the world instead of destroy it.   p. 52
  4. Why was the Ice Wizard never the same after he sent his sister away and she never came back?  he felt bad for being mean, he missed her  p. 54

Chapter 6

  1. Where was the Ice Wizard's eye in the Hollow Hill?    in a hole, in a hailstone       p. 64
  2. How did Annie find the hole the hailstone was in?  stepped in it   p. 64
  3. Why did Annie and Jack think the Frost Giant came back to the Hollow Hill? the ground shook, loud huffing that sounded like breathing   p. 66
  4. Why didn't they want to look at the giant?  they were told they'd freeze to death  p. 66

Chapter 7

  1. What did the giant do that made Jack and Annie feel like they could escape?  went to sleep    p. 68
  2. What did Jack and Annie both dream after they tumbled down the hill and were buried in snow?  white wolves, they were digging them out of the snow  p. 72
  3. When do Jack and Annie have to get the Ice Wizard's eye back to save Morgan and Merlin?  by break of day   p. 76
  4. What did Jack and Annie see inside the hailstone?  an eyeball   p. 79

Chapter 8

  1. Who was sleeping on either side of the wizard when Jack and Annie returned to the ice castle?  the wolves   p. 81
  2. After the wizard put in the eye, why did he feel like Jack and Annie tricked him?  the eye didn't work  p. 84
  3. Who did Kathleen and Teddy bring back to the Ice Wizard?  his sister, the swan maiden   p. 87
  4. Where had the Ice Wizard been keeping Merlin and Morgan prisoner?  in the wolf bodies  p. 90

Chapter 9

  1. Why was the Ice Wizard able to see clearly with both eyes after he saw his sister? He has his heart back.  p. 93
  2. Why didn't the Frost Giant accept the Norn's gift of the Ice Wizard's eye?  there is no Frost Giant p. 97
  3. What was the picture of on Annie's scarf?    Jack, Annie, two white wolves  p. 102
  4. What did Jack and Annie smell when they opened their front door?  cookies   p. 106