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Literature
Children's: Specifics

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Narnia
Peter Pan
Winnie–the–Pooh
Beatrix Potter
Thomas the Tank Engine (etc.)
Other

Children's Literature: Titles and Characters

These are questions where the title (or the name of a leading character) is the answer, so to mention the author and/or title in the "question", as we do in Children's Literature – General, would give it away.

The Chronicles of Narnia

The following table lists the seven books in "suggested reading order". Wikipedia quotes Lewis, the author, writing to a young fan: "When I wrote The Lion I did not know I was going to write any more. Then I wrote P. Caspian as a sequel and still didn't think there would be any more, and when I had done The Voyage I felt quite sure it would be the last, but I found I was wrong."

In truth, having read them in this order, I'm not convinced. You can't (in my opinion) read The Magician's Nephew without itching to get on with the Narnia story; and having read The Lion, you can't read The Horse and his Boy (which has very little to do with any of the other stories) without itching to get back to Narnia. My advice (for what it's worth) is to read them in publication order – but just read numbers 1 and 3 whenever you feel like it.

1955 Prequel to the second book (first to be published) Click to show or hide the answer
1950 First to be written and published Click to show or hide the answer
1954 (Doesn't really fit in to any logical or chronological sequence) Click to show or hide the answer
1951 Title character is King of Narnia, Lord of Cair Paravel and Emperor of The Lone Islands Click to show or hide the answer
1952 Title refers to the ship that was built by the above character Click to show or hide the answer
1953 Click to show or hide the answer
1956 Click to show or hide the answer

Name of the White Witch Click to show or hide the answer

Peter Pan

1902 adult novel, in which Peter Pan first appeared Click to show or hide the answer
Play premiered on 27 December 1904 Click to show or hide the answer
"To die will be an awfully big adventure" Click to show or hide the answer
1906 republication of the relevant chapters from The Little White Bird, illustrated by Arthur Rackham Click to show or hide the answer
1911 novel based on the play: first line "All children, except one, grow up." Click to show or hide the answer
"She asked where he lived. 'Second to the right,' said Peter, 'and then straight on till morning.'" Click for more information
"You see, Wendy, when the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies."
Tedious talk this, but being a stay–at–home she liked it.
"And so," he went on good–naturedly, "there ought to be one fairy for every boy and girl."
"Ought to be? Isn't there?"
"No. You see children know such a lot now, they soon don't believe in fairies, and every time a child says, 'I don't believe in fairies,' there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead."
"When a new baby laughs for the first time a new fairy is born, and as there are always new babies there are always new fairies."Click for more information

Winnie–the–Pooh

Lives with his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood Click to show or hide the answer
Collective title of the second volume of Winnie–the–Pooh stories, published in 1928 Click to show or hide the answer
Character for whom the House at Pooh Corner was built Click to show or hide the answer
Character who arrives in the Hundred Acre Wood in the second story in The House at Pooh Corner, "and [according to the title of the story] has breakfast" Click to show or hide the answer

Beatrix Potter

"What type of creature is (or was) Beatrix Potter's ... " is a popular style of question. Many of them (e.g. Squirrel Nutkin, from the second tale) are given away in the titles; here are some that aren't.

Mrs. Tiggy–Winkle Click to show or hide the answer
Mr. Jeremy Fisher Click to show or hide the answer
Miss Moppet Click to show or hide the answer
Samuel Whiskers Click to show or hide the answer
Ginger (in The Tale of Ginger and Pickles, 1909) Click to show or hide the answer
Pickles (in The Tale of Ginger and Pickles, 1909) Click to show or hide the answer
Timmy Tiptoes Click to show or hide the answer
Mr. Tod Click to show or hide the answer
Appley Dapply, Cecily Parsley ('presenters' of nursery rhymes, in two collections – 1917 and 1922) Click to show or hide the answer

Loses his tail in a fight with the owl Old Brown, in Beatrix Potter's second book (1903) Click to show or hide the answer
In her third book (1903), the tailor (whose work was finished by mice) was from (English city) Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer

Thomas the Tank Engine (and Friends)

The Railway Stories of the Rev. W. Awdry were around when I was a child, and I believe they were on the radio; but I only remember them from the books.

The First Book

Title of the Rev. W. Awdry's first Railway book Click to show or hide the answer

The first book contained four stories:

Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer
Click to show or hide the answer Click to show or hide the answer

The Eleven Numbered Engines

Question setters love to ask things such as "What was the name of the Big Engine?"

Eleven of the engines had numbers on the North Western Railway (which ran on the Island of Sodor, and was separate from The Other Railway – which represented (and satirised) British Railways. The following table lists the first seven, with their numbers, the number of the book whose title first referred to them, the 'epithet' by which they were referred to in that title, their colours (only a few of which are in the epithet!) and (under Notes) any other relevant information. The final (hidden) column gives their names; some are more obvious than others!

No. Book Epithet Colour Name
1 2 the Tank Engine Blue Click to show or hide the answer
2 9 the Blue Engine Click to show or hide the answer
3 6 the Green Engine Click to show or hide the answer
4 8 the Big Engine Blue Click to show or hide the answer
5 3 the Red Engine Click to show or hide the answer
6 11 the Small Engine Green Click to show or hide the answer
7 7 the Tram Engine Click to show or hide the answer

Nos. 8 to 11 are not known by 'epithets' in the same way as Nos. 1 to 7:

No. Notes Name
8 Ex–Great Western Railway (No. 5741); real name Montague Click to show or hide the answer
9 The twin Scottish engines, who first appear in Book 15 Click to show or hide the answer
10 Click to show or hide the answer
11 Ex–GWR tank engine (No. 1436); rescued by No. 10 in Book 23 Click to show or hide the answer

Other

Sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Roald Dahl) Click to show or hide the answer

Down the Rabbit Hole is the title of the first chapter of Click to show or hide the answer
Teenage criminal mastermind created by Eoin Colfer (series, 2001–) Click to show or hide the answer
Rebellious teenager created by the prolific children's author and screenwriter Andrew Davies – adapted for television by him and first broadcast 1981–4 Click to show or hide the answer
First appeared in French, in a book published in 1931; wife Celeste, children Pom, Flora, Alexander and Isabelle; subject of a Canadian animated television series, 1989–91; also the subject of an orchestral piece by Francois Poulenc (1940) Click to show or hide the answer
Title character eats only snozzcumbers Click to show or hide the answer
The Camels are Coming (1932 – including The White Fokker, which had appeared earlier the same year in a magazine) was the first book to feature Click to show or hide the answer
Algy (the Hon. Algernon) Lacey was the cousin, and Ginger Hebblethwaite was another close associate, of
Full title (after the initial, familiar shortened form) reads: … His grooms and companions … The Autobiography of a Horse … Translated from the original Equine Click to show or hide the answer
Ginger and Merrylegs are friends of the title character
In a series written by Mary Norton, the Clock family – teenager Arrietty, and her parents, Homily and Pod – are Click to show or hide the answer
Little helicopter created by the Duchess of York Click to show or hide the answer
"The Fat Owl of the Remove", or "the Heavyweight Chump of Greyfriars" Click to show or hide the answer
The (other) 'Famous Five' – (1) form head boy Harry Wharton, (2) Bob Cherry, (3) Frank Nugent, (4) Johnny Bull, and (5) Hurree Jamset Ram Singh, the Nabob of Bhainpur (an Indian prince) – and Michael (Micky) Desmond, a good–natured Irish boy (known as 'young Tipperary') were schoolfellows of
Most likely to say (when caught sneaking tuck): "I say, you fellows. Oops yarooooh! Look here, it wasn't me. Stoppit! Oh, crikey, wow–wow–wow!"
Thing One and Thing Two are the mischievous companions of (Dr. Seuss character) Click to show or hide the answer
Hilaire Belloc's 1907 collection of verses, including Jim, Who ran away from his Nurse, and was eaten by a Lion, Henry King, Who chewed bits of string, and was early cut off in Dreadful Agonies, Matilda, Who told Lies, and was Burned to Death Click to show or hide the answer
1952 novel by E. B. White, about a pig called Wilbur who makes friends with a barn spider Click to show or hide the answer
Roald Dahl, 1975: the story of a boy who lives with his father, fixing cars and poaching pheasants for a living. The father tells his son a story of a big friendly giant, which evolved into the much–loved children's novel first published in 1982 Click to show or hide the answer
Tommy Stubbins (a local boy), Matthew Mugg the Cat's–meat–man, Prince Bumpo, Polynesia the parrot, Gub–Gub the pig, Jip the dog, Chee–Chee the monkey, Dab–Dab the duck, Too–Too the owl, and the Pushmi–Pullyu (a two–headed gazelle–unicorn cross – llama in the film): associates and pets of Click to show or hide the answer
Patchwork elephant created by David McKee, in a series of 43 books published 1968–2021, and originally voiced for television by Johnny MorrisClick for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Walter Boggis, Nathan Bunce and Franklin Bean are poultry farmers in (Roald Dahl story) Click to show or hide the answer
Weird creatures created by Ricky Gervais, including the Honk, the Grundit, the Puddloflaj and the Mernimbler Click to show or hide the answer
Character in children's literature, has a wife called Mildew and a son called Mould Click to show or hide the answer
Roald Dahl story about a small boy who is left alone with his nasty grandmother and makes her an extra–special concoction; Grandma grows so big that her head breaks through the roof of the house Click to show or hide the answer
Classic 1999 children's story by Julia Donaldson, about a mouse that outwits a fox, an owl and a snake by telling them about a monster that is its friend, which it thinks it has made up – but then meets! Click to show or hide the answer
Complete this rhyming couplet: "Silly old Fox, doesn't he know, There's no such thing as a ... "
Fictional dog that lived at Donaldson's Dairy (in a series of books by Lynley Dodd) Click to show or hide the answer
Winnie–the–Pooh: chapter 5 is entitled "In Which Piglet meets a ... " Click to show or hide the answer
Orphan girl, sent to live with her unsociable grandfather in the mountains after her aunt Dete gets a job (as a maid) in the city Click to show or hide the answer
Peter the goatherd (who lives with his mother Brigitte and his blind grandmother) is the best friend of
In a series of children's books by Francesca Simon, Perfect Peter is the brother of Click to show or hide the answer
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III is the protagonist, and supposedly the author, of (series of children's books, published between 2003 and 2015) Click to show or hide the answer
British version of Mabel O'Donnell's Alice and Jerry (series of "basal reading" books published in the USA from the 1930s) Click to show or hide the answer
Charles Edwin Jeremy Darbishire – a mild–mannered, short–sighted clergyman's son – is the best friend of Click to show or hide the answer
Venables, Atkinson, Temple, Bromwich Major, Pettigrew and Marshall are other schoolmates of
"Fossilised fish–hooks!" was a catchphrase (used to express surprise or exasperation) of
Pen name of Daniel Handler, narrator of a series of books with the collective title A Series of Unfortunate Events – from The Bad Beginning, 1999, to The End, 2006 Click to show or hide the answer
Cedric Errol is better known as Click to show or hide the answer
Sarah Crewe is the heroine of (Francis Hodgson Burnett's) Click to show or hide the answer
The March sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy – are the central characters of Click to show or hide the answer
Paddington Bear's aunt, who lives in a home for retired bears in Peru Click to show or hide the answer
Cornish girls' seaside boarding school, featuring in a series of six books by Enid Blyton (1946–51) – protagonist Darrell Rivers Click to show or hide the answer
The tyrannical head teacher Miss Trunchbull, and the sympathetic teacher Miss Honey, feature in (Roald Dahl novel) Click to show or hide the answer
Series of children's books about an incompetent witch and her stripey cat, originally written by Helen Nicoll and illustrated by Jan PienkowskiClick for more information Click to show or hide the answer
English name of the small female rabbit created by the Dutch writer and illustrator Dick Bruna (1927–2017), who appeared in approximately 30 books for young children, between 1953 and 2019 (known in Dutch as Nijntje) Click to show or hide the answer
Attended Neil Armstrong Comprehensive School Click to show or hide the answer
It was winter for 100 years, but never Christmas, in Click to show or hide the answer
Known in France as Monsieur Oui Oui Click to show or hide the answer
Bumpy Dog, Mr. and Mrs. Tubby Bear, Tessie Bear, and the mischievous goblins Sly and Gobbo, are friends or associates of
'Marmalade' cat that appeared in 19 books written and illustrated by Kathleen Hale, between 1938 and 1972 (she died in 2000 aged 101) Click to show or hide the answer
Mr. Gruber – a Hungarian immigrant, who owns an antique shop on London's Portobello Road – is the best friend of Click to show or hide the answer
Was given a hat by his Uncle Pastuzo
"I shall stay until the wind changes" Click to show or hide the answer
Roberta (Bobbie), Phyllis and Peter are Click to show or hide the answer
Real–life location of the fictional Punchbowl Farm, setting of over 25 books (1948–69) by Monica Edwards (d. 1998) Click to show or hide the answer
Largely set at Misselthwaite Manor, a country house on the Yorkshire moors; central character is ten–year–old Mary Lennox Click to show or hide the answer
The Walker family (siblings John, Susan, Titty and Roger), their mother Mary and their baby sister Bridget (nicknamed Vicky), Nancy and Peggy Blackett, their uncle Jim (James Turner, commonly referred to as Captain Flint) and their widowed mother Molly Blackett, are characters in (series) Click to show or hide the answer
Book of children's stories by J. K. Rowling, published 2008 – purporting to be the book of the same name mentioned in the final Harry Potter book Click to show or hide the answer
1922 children's classic by Margery Williams: subtitle How Toys Become Real Click to show or hide the answer
Created by Martin Handford; known as Holger in Denmark, Charlie in France, Walter in Germany, Waldo in USA and Canada Click to show or hide the answer
Associates include twins Wilma and Wenda (friends), Odlaw (his nemesis), Woof (a dog) and Wizard Whitebeard
Subtitled A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby; set on St. Brandan's Isle Click to show or hide the answer
Classic 1963 story written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak (US), about a boy named Max who imagines a mysterious forest and sea in his bedroom Click to show or hide the answer
Alice Through the Looking Glass: character who says "The rule is, jam to–morrow and jam yesterday – but never jam to–day." Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Violet Elizabeth Bott is a thorn in the side of Click to show or hide the answer
Hubert Lane is an arch–rival of
Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs is the full name of Click to show or hide the answer
Piper at the Gates of Dawn (title of Pink Floyd's first LP) is a chapter title from Click to show or hide the answer
E. H. Shepard (1931) and Arthur Rackham (1940) are probably the most famous of at least ten artists that have illustrated (book first published in 1908)
Lived on Scatterbrook Farm Click to show or hide the answer

© Haydn Thompson 2017–22