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Quiz about Breaking Rules in Childrens Literature
Quiz about Breaking Rules in Childrens Literature

Breaking Rules in Children's Literature Quiz


We all know that books are supposed to teach kids right from wrong, but sometimes breaking the rules pays off. There is a long and glorious tradition of subversion in Children's Lit...

A multiple-choice quiz by dobrov. Estimated time: 8 mins.
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Author
dobrov
Time
8 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
72,821
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Difficult
Avg Score
5 / 10
Plays
2954
Awards
Top 35% Quiz
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. Stalky and his gang have big problems conforming with the rules at their boys' school. They are constantly out-of-bounds. They devise disgusting pranks to play on rival houses, and use their wits to get what they want. Are they punished? Sometimes, but the best of the masters admire them and they are obviously marked for glory. Who wrote the semi-autobiographical 'Stalky and Co.'? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Cyril, Margaret, Robert, Jane, and The Lamb are more concerned with hiding the results of their misdeeds from their parents. In this book (1904), this means setting a major nursery fire and releasing a mythical beast who takes them to an exotic island. Even The Lamb goes missing, but all ends happily. This is only one in a series of great subversive children's novels by E(dith) Nesbit. Which one is it? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. This little girl is the only conventional, obedient entity in an alternate world that breaks every natural and social rule in the book. Who is she? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. This boy is one of the classic rule-breakers of all time. He despises the tale-telling, pointlessly obedient Sidney, he terrorizes his loving aunt, disrupts his school and church, and scandalizes the town by befriending a complete social outcast. Yet his chronic disobedience helps him solve a murder and save an innocent man's life. Who is he?

Answer: (Two Words - think 'fence')
Question 5 of 10
5. Jo is a real misfit. She speaks too loudly, always says the wrong things, can't help leading rather than following, and she even has a boyish nickname. In 1868 she wasn't your typical young New England lady. Her boyish ways even lost her a trip to Europe. Who did Aunt March take instead? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. L. M. Montgomery's Anne is as much of a misfit as Jo is, but for a different reason. Her problem is too much imagination. In the course of her inner explorations she almost drowns, falls off a roof, gets her best friend drunk and even dyes her hair. What colour does she dye it? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. Tom Sawyer is a rule-breaker who triumphs. Booth Tarkington's boy is, conversely, pure chaos. Like the other rule-breakers, he operates almost exclusively according to his inner sense of what is appropriate, but his triumphs are merely breaks between punishments. The scourge of a turn-of-the-century Indiana town...who is he? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. In 1940, the British writer Geoffrey Trease created a character in a historical novel for young people who broke some big rules. This young girl disguised herself as a boy, ran away to London and met Shakespeare, and eventually played Juliet on an all-male Elizabethan stage. She also helped to foil an assassination attempt against the queen. What book was this? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Here's a character from a modern classic. By nature a rule-follower and tale-teller, when he went to school he was continually galled by the behaviour of a small group of sanguine rule-breakers who somehow always managed to get all the praise and attention. Now he teaches at the same school and among his pupils is the son of one of those golden boys who blighted his youth. The kid gets up to the same stuff his father did yet everyone thinks he's absolutely wonderful, which makes our character really sick. Who is this bitter individual?

Answer: (Two Words: think 'potions')
Question 10 of 10
10. In 1857 Thomas Hughes created Tom Brown - pious, plucky, highly conventional, devoted to his school and schoolmaster. The rule-breaker in the book was a dreadful, cruel, coward of a bully called Flashman, who gets his just deserts in the end. In the 1960s, George MacDonald Fraser took that character and created a great panorama of 19th century British Empire-building described for us by the classic bad boy of all time. The novels are for adults - they have to be because bad triumphs on an hourly basis. What undeserved rank does Harry Flashman end up with? Hint





Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Stalky and his gang have big problems conforming with the rules at their boys' school. They are constantly out-of-bounds. They devise disgusting pranks to play on rival houses, and use their wits to get what they want. Are they punished? Sometimes, but the best of the masters admire them and they are obviously marked for glory. Who wrote the semi-autobiographical 'Stalky and Co.'?

Answer: Rudyard Kipling

It's a little hard-going these days, but this book was written in the best of the Empire-building tradition. Lesser mortals follow rules and maintain the Empire, but a chosen few are above the law and conquer.
2. Cyril, Margaret, Robert, Jane, and The Lamb are more concerned with hiding the results of their misdeeds from their parents. In this book (1904), this means setting a major nursery fire and releasing a mythical beast who takes them to an exotic island. Even The Lamb goes missing, but all ends happily. This is only one in a series of great subversive children's novels by E(dith) Nesbit. Which one is it?

Answer: The Phoenix and the Carpet

In Nesbit's world, children are powerful. The adults are at risk and need to be protected. As a character in 'The Wouldbegoods' puts it, 'We had not really meant to do anything wrong. We only thought that perhaps the grown-up would not be quite pleased if they knew.'
3. This little girl is the only conventional, obedient entity in an alternate world that breaks every natural and social rule in the book. Who is she?

Answer: Alice

In 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' (1865) Alice's triumph comes when she stops trying to follow the confusing rules and realizes that they are absurd - just a pack of cards.
4. This boy is one of the classic rule-breakers of all time. He despises the tale-telling, pointlessly obedient Sidney, he terrorizes his loving aunt, disrupts his school and church, and scandalizes the town by befriending a complete social outcast. Yet his chronic disobedience helps him solve a murder and save an innocent man's life. Who is he?

Answer: Tom Sawyer

Tom Sawyer (1876) is an interesting character, but he is not as interesting as his friend Huckleberry Finn. With Huck, Twain explores the absurdity of social norms by having them observed by someone quite outside them.
5. Jo is a real misfit. She speaks too loudly, always says the wrong things, can't help leading rather than following, and she even has a boyish nickname. In 1868 she wasn't your typical young New England lady. Her boyish ways even lost her a trip to Europe. Who did Aunt March take instead?

Answer: Amy

The ladylike sister who doesn't argue was preferred. Jo's 'masculine' qualities help her to become the most successful, the strongest and the most fulfilled character in Alcott's series on the March family.
6. L. M. Montgomery's Anne is as much of a misfit as Jo is, but for a different reason. Her problem is too much imagination. In the course of her inner explorations she almost drowns, falls off a roof, gets her best friend drunk and even dyes her hair. What colour does she dye it?

Answer: Green

She actually meant it to be black, like Diana's, only it didn't turn out that way. 'Anne of Green Gables' and the subsequent Anne books all stress the importance of sticking to your guns and continuing to see the world as it isn't.
7. Tom Sawyer is a rule-breaker who triumphs. Booth Tarkington's boy is, conversely, pure chaos. Like the other rule-breakers, he operates almost exclusively according to his inner sense of what is appropriate, but his triumphs are merely breaks between punishments. The scourge of a turn-of-the-century Indiana town...who is he?

Answer: Penrod

In 'Penrod and Sam', Penrod's personal philosophy was laid out: 'There was neither malice nor mischief in their idea, simply, a problem presented itself to their notice and biological and artistic questionings were beginning to stir within them.' Very funny, although very dated books.
8. In 1940, the British writer Geoffrey Trease created a character in a historical novel for young people who broke some big rules. This young girl disguised herself as a boy, ran away to London and met Shakespeare, and eventually played Juliet on an all-male Elizabethan stage. She also helped to foil an assassination attempt against the queen. What book was this?

Answer: Cue for Treason

Trease decided to write his historical novels as an answer to the G. A. Henty, jingoistic tradition that he had grown up with. His works are still fresh and exciting.
9. Here's a character from a modern classic. By nature a rule-follower and tale-teller, when he went to school he was continually galled by the behaviour of a small group of sanguine rule-breakers who somehow always managed to get all the praise and attention. Now he teaches at the same school and among his pupils is the son of one of those golden boys who blighted his youth. The kid gets up to the same stuff his father did yet everyone thinks he's absolutely wonderful, which makes our character really sick. Who is this bitter individual?

Answer: Severus Snape

Come to think of it, Harry Potter is a lot like Stalky and Snape is Sidney to the life.
10. In 1857 Thomas Hughes created Tom Brown - pious, plucky, highly conventional, devoted to his school and schoolmaster. The rule-breaker in the book was a dreadful, cruel, coward of a bully called Flashman, who gets his just deserts in the end. In the 1960s, George MacDonald Fraser took that character and created a great panorama of 19th century British Empire-building described for us by the classic bad boy of all time. The novels are for adults - they have to be because bad triumphs on an hourly basis. What undeserved rank does Harry Flashman end up with?

Answer: Brigadier-General

Flashman is the apotheosis of adult rule-breaking, but it all began with lessons taught to children...
Source: Author dobrov

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
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