Puzzle for the Secret Seven (Book 10) Quiz

Answer: The shack on the hill is on fire

Jack's mother wins £20 in a whist drive and pays for all the children to go to the fair. Pam wins some sweets and Peter wins three coconuts. They have no money left to buy gingerbread, so the woman gives them some bits that are too over-done to sell.

They talk to her and she tells them she and her husband live on the hill in a shack. When the children leave they see something burning on the hill and call the fire brigade. When the fire is out, there is nothing left of the shack and it's too late to save anything from inside.

It's the gingerbread lady's house. A meeting is called to plan how they can help the woman.

Answer: Luke

Luke Bolan is the father of the 'gingerbread family', although we do not meet him until right at the end of the book. (Marc Bolan is a glam-rock singer from the 1970s!)

Answer: He is so frightened he runs away and hides in the bushes

When Peter's mum pats Benny Bolan on the head, the boy runs away in fright and hides in the bush. He is a very unusual little boy. Mrs Bolan says her husband's banjo was burned in the fire and he is very upset. The baby cries and they all leave Mrs Bolan alone to feed the baby and settle in.

Answer: A rabbit

Colin's poem is unfinished at this stage, but is completed later in the book when Colin makes Binkie cry. The poem goes like this:

Oh Binkie has the habit,
Of a funny little rabbit,
Twitching up and down her little nose;
And in her mouth beneath
Are little rabbit teeth,
And that's the way a little Binkie grows!

Colin feels ashsamed when Peter & Janet's mum thinks it is rather unkind to Binkie, but the children agree that Susie and Binkie are rather unkind to them. He says the poem to Binkie in anger later in the book when he gets fed up of Binkie & Susie singing their silly rhyme.

Answer: Someone took the clothes from the scarecrow

Someone stole the clothes from the Scarecrow! It wasn't any of the children, but they suspect Susie and Binkie would be silly enough to do something like that.

Answer: A very old violin

A very very old violin is stolen from the antique shop. The boys chase the thief but can't find him. They go back to tell a policeman what they saw, but the children get told to go home. Colin later tells the Secret Seven that his watch wasn't lost after all - he had left it at home!

Answer: Medium sized wearing a torn tweed coat, a hat with a hole, grey trousers and a red spotted scarf

When George describes what the man was wearing - scruffy old worn clothes - Peter gives a loud exclamation. George has just described exactly what the old scarecrow in their field was wearing before someone stole his clothes!

Answer: A violin

Susie and Binkie hear the boys' plan to go up to the hill and hide in the bushes making terrible wailing noises. Once discovered, the angry Jack takes them home, and Matt the Shepherd comes out and tells them all to clear off. The other boys wait for a while and sure enough they hear the wailing, but it isn't as they imagined.

It is clearly the sad, haunting sound of someone playing the violin.

Answer: An old tweed coat, a hat with a hole, grey trousers and a red spotted scarf

They don't find the violin, but they do find the clothes stolen from the scarecrow. Peter thinks the only place the violin can be is inside the baby's pram, just as Mrs Bolan comes back with the Benny and the baby. She goes inside to feed the baby and the Secret Seven look inside the pram - sure enough, there is the stolen violin!

Answer: Benny is blind

Mr Bolan sees them find the violin and comes clean. He stole it from the shop, not to replace his banjo but to soothe his son, Benny, who is a wonderful violin player. Benny is blind and makes the most beautiful sounds on the violin, imitating the wind, and playing gypsy dance tunes. Mr Bolan didn't realise how expensive the violin was and promises to pay it all back.

The Secret Seven, as well as Susie, do odd jobs to help save up the money to pay for the violin for Benny.