Newbery Similarities Trivia Quiz

Answer: Poetry

The insect poems in the 1989 winner "Joyful Noise" are meant to be read aloud by two readers. "A Visit to William Blake's Inn" (1982) contains poems inspired by the title poet, as well as many illustrations. 1998's "Out of the Dust", written in free verse, is about a girl in the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. "The Crossover" (2015) is likewise in free verse and is about a basketball-playing boy and his relationships with his father and brother.

Answer: Mouse

Mrs. Frisby seeks help from the rats to move her house. The plough will tear it up, but one of her children is so sick that he can't leave the house, so she must find a way to move her home.

Despereaux is a very small mouse whose mother sees him as a disappointment. He eventually goes on an adventure to rescue a princess.

Answer: King

"King of the Wind" (1949) by Marguerite Henry is about an ancestor of the Thoroughbred horse. "The High King" (1969) and "The Grey King" (1976) are fantasy books by Lloyd Alexander and Susan Cooper. Both are part of a series: respectively, "The Prydain Chronicles" and "The Dark Is Rising". "The Prydain Chronicles", based on Welsh myths, tell of an assistant pigkeeper's fight against evil. "The Dark Is Rising" is based on Authurian legends and the Holy Grail.

Answer: Sing Down the Moon

An Honor book from 1971, "Sing Down the Moon" by Scott O'Dell is about a Navajo girl dealing with the changes brought into her life by Spaniards encroaching on her tribe's land. "The Summer of the Swans" won the Newbery Medal that year. Another book with a celestial title, Sylvia Engdahl's science fiction/fantasy novel "Enchantress from the Stars", was also a Newbery Honor book that year.

Answer: "The Midwife's Apprentice" and "A Single Shard"

These are the winners from 1996 and 2002. The title character of "The Midwife's Apprentice" is called Brat and Beetle before naming herself Alice. She becomes the apprentice of a strict midwife and learns that even when she fails in certain tasks, she can't give up or she'll get nowhere.

Tree-ear from "A Single Shard" lives under a bridge and is fascinated by pottery. He breaks a pot and works for the potter for several days to work off the debt. He stays on afterwards as an apprentice, but without pay.

Answer: Caddie Woodlawn

"Invincible Louisa" (1934) is about the author of "Little Women", Louisa May Alcott. "Daniel Boone" from 1940 is a biography of the American frontiersman. Abraham Lincoln is the subject of 1988's winner, "Lincoln: A Photobiography", which contains many pictures to help tell the story of Lincoln's life. "Caddie Woodlawn" (1936) is based on the author's grandmother's stories of growing up on the Wisconsin frontier, but is not a biography.

Answer: Ships

All of these are sea-themed Newbery Medal books. "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" (1956) is based on the life of Nathaniel Bowditch, a man who worked in mathematics and sea navigation. In 1974's "The Slave Dancer", a boy is kidnapped and put aboard a slave ship, where he's forced to play music for the slaves to dance to for exercise. "The Dark Frigate" (1924) tells of a boy who ends up on a ship taken over by pirates.

Answer: Island of the Blue Dolphins

1961's winner "Island of the Blue Dolphins" is by Scott O'Dell. It is based on the true story of a woman who was found living alone on San Nicolas Island in the 19th century. She was called Juana Maria, or the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island. The book's girl is named Karana. She is left behind when her people leave the island.

"Call It Courage" and "Julie of the Wolves" are the winners from 1941 and 1973.

Answer: Medieval Europe

These books won for the years 1943, 1950, 2003, and 2008. A large number of Newbery Medal books are historical novels. "A Single Shard" takes place in 12th century Korea. "A Gathering of Days" (1980) is set in 1830s New England. 17th century Spain is the setting for the 1966 winner "I, Juan de Pareja", and "Rifles for Watie" (1958) tells of a boy who fights for both the Union and the Confederacy in the American Civil War.

Answer: Dolls

Hitty, full name Mehitabel, relates her experiences of being passed from owner to owner, including a Quaker girl, a snake charmer, a painter, and a dressmaker. She travels all over the world and is by turns bought, given as a gift, stolen, lost, and auctioned off. By contrast, Miss Hickory is left behind by the family over a winter.

After a chipmunk moves into her corncob house, she has to rely on nearby animals for support. Many of the stories in "Miss Hickory" are about these animals.