Children's Literature: General

See also Children's Literature – Titles and Characters (for questions where the answer is a title or the name of a leading character), Harry Potter, Tolkien, and Horrible Histories.

Author	Title	Question			Answer
Louisa M. Alcott	Little Women	Historical background			American Civil War
Rev. W. Awdry	Railway stories (commonly known as Thomas the Tank Engine)	Setting (fictional island)			Sodor
		The Fat Controller's real name			Sir Topham Hatt
		The Fat Controller was originally (until 1948) known as			The Fat Director
		Thomas's coaches and best friends			Annie, Clarabel
		Thomas's number			1
		Engine No. 2 (the Blue Engine - old engine let out of the shed for a day in the first story)			Edward
		Engine No. 3 (the Green Engine – gets bricked up in a tunnel in the third story)			Henry
		Engine No. 4: the Big Engine			Gordon
		Engine No. 5: the Red Engine			James
		Engine No. 6: the Small Engine			Percy
		Engine No. 7: the Tram Engine			Toby
		Engine No. 8: the Great Western Engine			Duck
		Duck's real name			Montague
		Engines Nos. 9 and 10: the twin black Scottish engines			Donald and Douglas
		The Traction Engine			Trevor
		The Tractor			Terence
J. M. Barrie	Peter Pan	At the start of the story, Peter has lost (trapped in a drawer)			His shadow
		Girl's name invented by Barrie			Wendy
		Wendy's mother and father			George, Mary
		Wendy's brothers			Michael, John
		Their surname			Darling
		The Darlings' dog			Nana
		Nana's breed			Newfoundland
		Name of the fairy that Peter meets in Never Never Land			Tinker Bell
		Indian girl rescued by Peter			Tiger Lily
		Captain Hook's ship			Jolly Roger
		Boatswain of the Jolly Roger			Smee
		First Mate of the Jolly Roger			Starkey
		The crocodile swallowed Captain Hook's hand, and			A clock
		Captain Hook's final words (motto of his Alma Mater)			Floreat Etona
		"Second star on the right, straight on till morning": directions to			Never Never Land
		Tootles, Nibs, Slightly, Curly and The Twins are			The Lost Boys
L. Frank Baum	The Wizard of Oz	Dorothy's aunt and uncle, with whom she lives as an orphan			Henry, Em
		Dorothy (and her Uncle Henry & Aunt Em) live in			Kansas
		The Yellow Brick Road leads to			The Emerald City
Enid Blyton	Famous Five stories	Name of the dog			Timmy
	Secret Seven stories	Name of the dog			Scamper
	Noddy stories	Noddy and Big Ears live in			Toyland (not Toytown)
		Colour of Noddy's hat			Blue
		What does Noddy do for a living?			Taxi driver
		Name of the policeman			PC Plod
Michael Bond	Paddington Bear stories	Family that Paddington lodges with			Brown
		The Browns found Paddington at			Paddington Station
		The Browns' address			32 Windsor Gardens, London
		The Browns' cook			Mrs. Bird
		Paddington came from			(Darkest) Peru
		Paddington's favourite food			Marmalade sandwiches
		Product controversially advertised by Paddington in 2007			Marmite
		Paddington's only known relative			Aunt Lucy
Anthony Buckeridge	(Jennings stories)	Jennings's first names			John Christopher Timothy
		Jennings's best friend (first names Charles Edwin Jeremy)			Darbishire
		Jennings's school			Linbury Court
		Jennings's form master			Mr. Wilkins ('Old Wilkie')
Edgar Rice Burroughs	(Tarzan stories)	Tarzan's ancestral home			Greystoke
Lewis Carroll	Alice in Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass	Original illustrator (both books)			Sir John Tenniel
		Followed down the hole by Alice			White Rabbit
		Disappears by degrees, from time to time, the last thing visible being its iconic grin			Cheshire Cat
		Stuffed into a teapot by the Mad Hatter and the March Hare			Dormouse
		Price on the Mad Hatter's hat (in Tenniel's illustration)			10/6 (ten shillings & sixpence)
		"Off with his head!"			Queen of Hearts
		Used by the Queen of Hearts as a croquet mallet			Flamingo
		Creatures used as croquet balls			Hedgehogs
		Taught Alice to dance the Lobster Quadrille; sang 'Will you walk a little faster, said the whiting to the snail.'			Mock Turtle
		Sings of "Soup of the evening, beautiful soup"
		Tells Alice that he had a teacher who was called Tortoise - "because he taught us"
		In a famous riddle, which is never answered (and which probably never had an answer), the Mad Hatter asks Alice why a raven is like			A writing desk
		The second word in Jabberwocky: invented by Carroll, and defined by Humpty Dumpty as "four o'clock in the afternoon"			Brillig
		Last word in the second line of Jabberwocky; Alice deduces that it means "the grass plot round a sundial"			Wabe
		Character who promises "Jam to–morrow and jam yesterday – but never jam to–day"			White Queen
		Also claims "I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast"
Carlo Collodi	Pinocchio	Pinocchio's creator			Gepeto
		Pinocchio's pet cat			Figaro
Richmal Crompton	William stories	William's surname			Brown
		William's gang			The Outlaws
		The Outlaws			Ginger
					Henry
					Douglas
		William's nemesis			Violet Elizabeth Bott
		William's dog			Jumble
		William's elder sister			Ethel
		William's elder brother			Robert
Roald Dahl	Charlie and the Chocolate Factory	Charlie's surname			Bucket
		Owner of the chocolate factory			Willie Wonka
		Diminutive, orange–skinned people that work in the factory			Oompa–Loompas
		Number of children allowed to enter the factory			5
		Obese, gluttonous 9–year–old boy: falls into the Chocolate River and is drawn through a pipe to the Fudge Room			Augustus Gloop
		Rude, self–centred 10–year–old girl, obsessed with chewing gum: turns into a giant blueberry after snatching some experimental gum			Violet Beauregarde
		Greedy, demanding, spoiled brat: thrown down the garbage chute (with her parents) after stealing a nut that's being tested by squirrels			Veruca Salt
		Bad–tempered, slothful 9–year–old boy who does nothing but watch television: shrunk by miniaturisation technology, then over–stretched by the Oompa–Loompas			Mike Teavee
	Esio Trot	The title character is a (type of animal)			Tortoise
	George's Marvellous Medicine	George's surname			Kranky
	James and the Giant Peach	James's surname			Trotter
	Matilda	Matilda's surname			Wormwood
		Matilda's sympathetic teacher			Miss Honey
		The tyrannical headmistress			Miss Trunchbull
Ian Fleming	Chitty Chitty Bang Bang	Creator and owner of the eponymous car (played in the film by Dick Van Dyke)			Caractacus Pott(s)
		Make and model of the eponymous car (12 cylinders, 8 litres)			Paragon Panther
		Name of the dog			Edison
Roger Hargreaves	Mr. Men books	The first Mr. Men book (1971)			Mr. Tickle
Joel Chandler Harris	Brer Rabbit stories	Pseudonym that he wrote them under			Uncle Remus
William Horwood	Duncton Wood (and sequels)	Two trilogies about a community of (which creatures?)			Moles
Capt. W. E. Johns	Biggles stories	Biggles's full name			James Bigglesworth
		The first Biggles story (published in 1932, in the first issue of Popular Flying magazine)			The White Fokker
		The first book of Biggles stories (1932 – included the above)			The Camels are Coming
Charles Kingsley	The Water Babies	"The ugliest fairy in the world"			Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby
		Tom's occupation			Chimney sweep's boy
Rudyard Kipling	Kim	Kim's full name			Kimball O'Hara
	Just So stories	The "great, grey–green, greasy" river			Limpopo
		Gave the camel its hump			Djinn of all the deserts
	The Jungle Book	Leader of the wolf pack, and Mowgli's mentor			Akela
		The panther that serves as friend, protector and mentor to the "man–cub" Mowgli			Bagheera
		Baloo is a			Bear
		Kaa is a			Snake (python)
		Shere Khan is a			Tiger
		Rikki–Tikki–Tavi is a			Mongoose
		Hathi is (the Hindi word for) an			Elephant
C. S. Lewis	Chronicles of Narnia	Names of the children			Peter
					Susan
					Edmund
					Lucy
		The children's surname			Pevensie
		Name of the lion			Aslan
		Name of the faun			Mr. Tumnus
		Castle, home to the Kings and Queens of Narnia			Cair Paravel
		Tempting treat with which the White Witch enchants Edmund and enslaves him to her			Turkish delight
Hugh Lofting	Doctor Dolittle stories	Dr. Doolittle lives and practises in			Puddleby–on–the–Marsh
		Parrot that taught him to talk to the animals			Polynesia
		The two–headed antelope (llama in the film)			Pushmi–pullyu
A. A. Milne	Winnie–the–Pooh stories	Original illustrator			E. H. Shepard
		Winnie–the–Pooh's first words each day			What's for breakfast?
		Name under which Winnie–the–Pooh lived in a wood			Mr. Sanders
		Winnie–the–Pooh's more formal name			Edward Bear
		Name of the wood that Pooh and his friends lived in			The Hundred Acre Wood
L. M. Montgomery	Anne of Green Gables (and sequels)	Surname of the title character			Shirley
Michael Morpurgo	War Horse	Name of the title character			Joey
E. Nesbit	The Railway Children	House that the children move to at the start			Three Chimneys
		Name of the station porter			Albert Perks
Beatrix Potter	Peter Rabbit stories (etc.)	Name of the gardener, whose wife put Peter's father into a pie			Mr. MacGregor
		Peter's three sisters			Flopsy
					Mopsy
					Cottontail
		Book No. 2: The Tale of			Squirrel Nutkin
		Book No. 3: The Tailor of Gloucester is a			Mouse
		Book No. 6: Mrs. Tiggywinkle is a			Hedgehog
		Book No. 8: Mr. Jeremy Fisher is a			Frog
		Book No. 10: Miss Moppet is a			Kitten
		Book No. 13: Samuel Whiskers is a			Rat
		Book No. 15: Ginger is a			Cat
		Book No. 15: Pickles is a			Dog (terrier)
		Book No. 17: Timmy Tiptoes is a			Squirrel
		Book No. 18: Mr. Tod is a			Fox
		Book No. 20 (a collection of nursery rhymes): Appley Dappley is a			Mouse
		Book No. 22 (another collection of nursery rhymes): Cecily Parsley is a			Rabbit
Philip Pullman	His Dark Materials (trilogy)	Iorek Byrnison is a (type of creature)			Bear
Arthur Ransome	Swallows and Amazons	The rival groups – the Swallows and the Amazons – were named after			Boats
		Names of the families			Blackett
					Walker
Frank Richards	Billy Bunter stories	Billy Bunter's school			Greyfriars
		Billy Bunter's form teacher			Mr. Quelch
		Billy Bunter's middle name			George
		Billy Bunter's equally obese sister			Bessie
		Bessie's school			Cliff House School
Dr. Seuss	Horton Hears a Who	Horton is an			Elephant
Anna Sewell	Black Beauty	Black Beauty begins life with the name			Darkie
Robert Louis Stevenson	Kidnapped	Name of the narrator (who is kidnapped)			David Balfour
	Treasure Island	Narrator			Jim Hawkins
		Name of the ship			Hispaniola
		Captain of the ship			Captain Smollett
		Inn of which Jim Hawkins's mother is landlady			Admiral Benbow
		Rowdy "old salt" who takes a room at the above hostelry at the start, calling himself "the Captain" – eventually claims to have been First Mate on Captain Flint's ship, and proves after his death to have Flint's treasure map			Billy Bones
		Pirate captain who argues and fights with Bones, then dies			Black Dog
		Turns up at the Admiral Benbow on the day after Jim's father's funeral			Blind Pew
		Given by Blind Pew to Billy Bones, who thereupon falls down dead			The Black Spot
		Level–headed, courageous magistrate – arguably the hero of the story			Dr. Livesey
		Dr. Livesey's associate, a naïve character largely influenced by Silver			Squire Trelawney
		Pirate named after the real–life second–in–command to Edward Teach (Blackbeard)			Israel Hands
		Marooned sailor found on the island (dreamed of cheese)			Ben Gunn
		Bristol inn owned by Long John Silver			The Spyglass
		Long John Silver's parrot – named after the character who buried the treasure (who never appears in the story but is only referred to)			Cap'n Flint
		Silver's favourite shanty (invented by Stevenson)			15 Men on a Dead Man's Chest
		Long John Silver's job on board the Hispaniola (and with Flint)			Cook
		Island south of Treasure Island, where Captain Flint buried his treasure and Benn Gunn dug it up			Skeleton Island
P. L. Travers	Mary Poppins	Name of the family			Banks
		Their address			17 Cherry Tree Lane
		Names of the children			Michael, Jane
		Mary said she'd stay with the Banks family until ...			... the wind changed
Sue Townsend	The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole	Adrian's age (in the first book)			13¾
		Date on which he wrote his first diary entry: 1 January			1981
		His girlfriend (in the early books – they break up in True Confessions)			Pandora Braithwaite
E. B. White	Charlotte's Web	Name of the pig that is the central character			Wilbur

© Haydn Thompson 2017–24