Assorted Children's Literature Quiz

Answer: They bite chunks of rock out of their home mountains, making them look like Swiss cheese.

Emmenthal, what Americans call Swiss cheese, is easy to spot, since it is full of holes. That's what the Cheeziewheezies, also known as Rockbiters, make their mountains look like by eating holes in them.

I need to explain one of the incorrect answers, because it's interesting. Well, maybe 'interesting' isn't quite the right word.

There are different kinds of cheese. There's hard cheese, like emmenthal. Then there is soft cheese. This kind of cheese usually comes in a 'rind', a sort of shell that protects it. Limburger comes in a rind. That's not the, er, interesting thing about it though. Here's what The Encyclopedia Britanica says about limburger:

"The flavour of Limburger is pronounced but not as strong as the odour, which can be detected at a considerable distance when the cheese is exposed."

The encyclopedia also says:

"Limburger traditionally was used to make Limburger sandwiches, with cheese and onion served on rye bread."

Yikes! Talk about dog breath!

Answer: "The Silver Chair"

Puddleglum is a marsh wiggle. A marsh wiggle is a person with a body not actually that much bigger than a dwarf's, but with very long arms and legs, so he's about as tall as a tall grownup human. He has a muddy sort of complection and hair that is flat, like reeds. Marsh wiggles don't only live in fens and marshlands, but anywhere near water. They often work as ferrymen.

Puddleglum befriends Jill and Eustace, going with them on their quest, which Aslan himself laid upon them, to find the lost Prince Rilian.

Answer: The door in the corner of the drawing room

Coraline loves to explore. At first, while the weather is fine, she explores the gardens and grounds around the old house where her parents have bought a flat. But when the weather turns rainy, her father suggests that she explore the flat itself. She discovers many interesting things about the flat, like that it has twenty-one windows.

But the most interesting thing, the only mysterious thing, is the big, old fashioned wooden door in the corner of the drawing room. At first, it opens on a blank brick wall.

Then, it doesn't. With the occasional help of a black cat, Coraline explores the world behind the door, solves its mystery and rescues, not only the cat, but also several people from the evil thing that lives there.

Answer: On a sunny bank

"Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice 'without pictures or conversations?'

So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!" (when she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.

In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again."

Of course, Alice was quite right that books with no pictures or conversations are boring. And sometimes it does seem like too much trouble to get up and pick the daisies for a daisy chain... Do you know how to make a daisy chain? (If not, you can type "how to make a daisy chain" into your favorite search engine and several web pages will pop up with instructions. All the same, following a bunny, even a bunny with a waistcoat and a watch to keep in the pocket, down a rabbit hole seems like a risky thing to do. Just think what might happen. I mean, look what happened to Alice!

Answer: The Oaken Throne

"The Oaken Throne" is the second book in "The Deptford Histories". The other books in the series are "The Alchymist's Cat" and "Thomas". As the title of the series, "The Deptford Histories", suggests, these books give background and context for "The Deptford Mice".

"The Deptford Mice" comprises "The Dark Portal", "The Crystal Prison" and "The Final Reckoning".

"The Whitby Witches" is both the title of the trilogy and the title of the first book in the trilogy, which also includes "A Warlock in Whitby" and "The Whitby Child".

"Tales from the Wyrd Museum" is comprised of "The Woven Path", "The Raven's Knot" and "The Fatal Strand".

Answer: He loves poor people.

Mr. Glister tells Rebecca earnestly that he works very hard to make all the people poor. It isn't easy. But, since he loves poor people so much, it is his duty to make them all as poor as possible so he can love them as much as possible. Rebecca thinks but does not say that being loved by Mr. Glister probably does not make up for being penniless and in rags. Though she had been uncertain before, now she is sure that her friends are right and Mr. Glister is evil. With the special map, they can find the last ghost tree and, as Mr. Glister groans when he realizes they must have the map, they can ruin him.

"Rebecca's World" is sort of a silly book, but it's lots of fun to read. Did you know that Mr. Nation wrote it for his own little girl, whose name was Rebecca? That makes it a special book.

Answer: The Magicians of Caprona

All the listed books are by Diana Wynne Jones. The correct answer, though, is "The Magicians of Caprona". The original author of this quiz said this about the book:

"This wonderful book is quite obviously based on Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" and I always felt it captured the atmosphere of a renaissance Italian City-state extremely well!"

The magicians of the title are two great spell-making families, the Montanas and the Petrocchis. When the magic of both houses drops off sharply and a war that the duke didn't authorize threatens to destroy Caprona, they must work together to save the city they love. Along the way there's a wedding and two friendships begin.

Answer: If Gwyn is a magician

Gwyn tells his mother what his grandmother said, and it seems to upset her. But he thinks it's exciting. After all, how many children have ancestors who were magicians? And, for that matter, how many children might be magicians themselves?

Answer: In a rolltop desk

The boggart, an ancient spirit of mischief, finds his new home an exciting if bewilderingly strange place. He is fond of Emily and Jessup but, though they grow fond of him, they all know Toronto is no place for a creature of the old magic.

Answer: Ostriches

Johann David Wyss wrote the Fantasy Adventure story "The Swiss Family Robinson". It shouldn't surprise you to learn that Mr. Wyss came from Switzerland. Among the exciting and unlikely things the Robinsons found on their island were ostriches that they were able to tame and train to wear saddles. Of course, ostriches go much faster than people, so being able to ride made traveling easier and less time consuming.

At the end of the 1967 movie "Doctor Dolittle", the good doctor is seen heading for the moon on the back of a luna moth. As far as anybody can tell, there were no luna moths on the Robinsons' island.