Picking Out a Great "Adventure" Book Quiz

Answer: Howard Pyle

Published in 1883, Pyle's version of the Robin Hood story was an important step in creating the popular myth we now know. Pyle used the traditional, late Middle English Robin Hood ballads and turned them into a narrative suitable for children. Robin Hood and his Merry Men, as you may have heard, steal from the rich and give to the poor.

Answer: J.R.R. Tolkien

"The Adventures of Tom Bombardil," published in 1962, is a collection of 16 poems. Two of the poems are about Tom Bomardil, a character Frodo Baggins met in "The Lord of the Rings." The others are related to the Middle Earth universe, including poems written from the standpoint of Bilbo Baggins and Sam Gamgee.

Answer: P.G. Wodehouse

The novel "The Adventures of Sally" was first published in book form in 1922. However, it was originally created as a serial in Collier's magazine in 1921. The main character Sally is a popular young woman in New York City who works as a "taxi dancer," a woman who gets paid to be a partner at ballroom dances.

Answer: Mark Twain

This classic of American literature was first published in 1884 in the U.K. It made its first appearance in the U.S. in 1885. It's a sequel to "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and tells the story of young Huck Finn and runaway slave Jim as they travel down the Mississippi River on a raft.

Answer: Arthur Conan Doyle

Published in 1892, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" is a collection of short stories that appeared in "The Strand Magazine" in 1891 and 1892. Each story involves detective Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick (and narrator of the stories), Dr. John Watson.

Many of the Holmes favorites are included here, including "The Adventure of the Speckled Band," "A Scandal in Bohemia," "The Red-Headed League," and "The Five Orange Pips."

Answer: Dav Pilkey

Published in 1997, this children's book was the first of many fun and silly books in the series about Captain Underpants. In this first one, two elementary school boys use a "3-D Hypno-Ring" to hypnotize their school principal into the comic book superhero the two boys had created.

Answer: Carlos Collodi

Published in 1883, this children's fantasy novel continues to be extremely popular--more than a dozen films have been based on the story. When a carpenter named Geppetto carves a wooden puppet of a boy from a table leg, the puppet, who Geppeto has named Pinocchio, comes magically to life. Oh, yes, there's the whole thing about Pinocchio's nose growing whenever he lies.

Answer: L. Frank Baum

When he wasn't writing about the land of Oz, L. Frank Baum wrote this children's book about Santa Claus. Published in 1902, the book tells the story of Santa from birth until he is granted immortality just before the Spirit of Death is about to take him away.

The book, like the "Oz" books, has a lot of fantasy elements, including encounters with fairies, gnomes, pixies, dragons, goblins, and demons.

Answer: Michael Chabon

This very popular novel, published in 2000, tells the story of two cousins who become important figures in the comics industry. It was based on the lives of many actual comic book authors, including Bob Kane, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Joe Shuster, Jerry Siegel, and Joe Simon.

Answer: Lewis Carroll

This fantasy children's book, written by Oxford Mathematics professor Lewis Carroll, was published in 1865. It begins with young Alice spotting a white rabbit and then following him down a rabbit hole. On her journey through Wonderland, Alice meets all sorts of odd characters, including the hookah-smoking caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and the evil Queen of Hearts.