Llamas in the Library Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

First published in 1969, 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' quickly became considered a children's classic, and won numerous awards both for its content and for its illustrations. The caterpillar emerges from the egg, and starts eating, devouring an ever-increasing amount of food each day, and the holes in the pages to show his track get progressively larger as he grows fatter. On Monday he eats his way through one red apple; on Tuesday, two green pears; on Saturday he grazes his way through so many different foods that he goes to sleep with a tummyache. He finally forms a cocoon and emerges as a beautiful butterfly.

Ralph checked it out - the cardboard foods looked a lot more appetizing than they tasted.

Answer: Slaughterhouse-Five

'Slaughterhouse-Five' is arguably the best known work by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. This novel takes the reader through a number of different scenes, set in different times. These include Billy Pilgrim's experience in the Battle of the Bulge, his time as a prisoner in a slaughterhouse, and his stay on Tralfamadore, where he is kept as a zoo-like attraction.

This novel's controversial themes led to it being banned from several public libraries in the USA and in 2011 it was banned in the Republic High School, Missouri.

Answer: Papillon

First published in 1969, 'Papillon' describes the author's escape from a penal colony located off the coast of French Guiana. This best-seller was made into a movie of the same name starring Steve McQueen in the starring role. While the author states that everything in the book is true, there have been some questions about the accuracy of the story. The whole truth behind the this novel will probably never be known. The title 'Papillon' comes from the French word for butterfly, a tattoo of which Charriere had on his chest.

After Ralph wasconvinced that this occurred near his South American home, he decided to read it before he ate it. Dcpddc478 told him that there were many more books he could explore.

Answer: Clive Cussler

Clive Cussler wrote many novels featuring Dirk Pitt, including the eleventh in the series, 'Sahara', released in 1992. After authoring seventeen novels featuring Dirk Pitt on his own, he began writing more novels with the help of his son, Dirk (yes, named after Dirk Pitt).

Ralph was not convinced to read salami_swami's choice of book. Once he learned that camels played no significant part in 'Sahara', he gave the novel back to Salami, with pages eaten and the rest covered in slobber.

Answer: The Great Gatsby

The titular Jay Gatsby is an elusive 'party animal' with a penchant for throwing lavish and expensive parties while remaining behind a veil of mystery. When Nick Carraway is invited to one of these parties, he develops a friendship with Gatsby and discovers that Gatsby and Daisy, one of the other principal characters, were lovers long ago.

The 1925 novel is widely considered to be one of the greatest works of English literature, and is frequently studied and analyzed in academic institutions. The 1974 film, starring Robert Redford, is one of the best known adaptations of the novel, and won two Academy Awards.

Ralph enjoyed the book, but felt that there weren't enough llamas in it. Eburge was inclined to agree.

Answer: Rob Roy

'Rob Roy' is set during the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715, which aimed at restoring the Stuart monarchy. This historical novel dramatised the exploits of Rob Roy MacGregor, one of Scotland's most honored heros. There is much Ralph could learn from this book, which describes living conditions of the average Scot in the early 18th century.

Dcpddc478 managed to get Ralph to try and read this novel by telling him of the beautiful green fields found in Scotland. It took a while, but Ralph finished this wonderful novel and has decided to add a visit to Scotland to his bucket list.

Answer: Lars Kepler

Ralph may be from a completely different part of the world, but he should give Swedish mystery literature a chance! 'The Hypnotist' was the first novel written by Lars Kepler, a pseudonym for the writing couple Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril (the former of whom wrote novels solo for years beforehand). 'The Hypnotist' was the first to feature Detective Inspector Joona Linna as he tried to solve a mystery behind a family's murder. When he brought a hypnotist, Erik Maria Bark, into the case, things escalated for the worse. 'The Hypnotist' was followed up by 'The Nightmare' in 2012.

Kyleisalive highly recommends this book. It won't put Ralph to sleep, that's for sure.

Answer: Pyramids

Pteppic, crown prince of the Djelibeybi (pronounced jelly baby), has trained in Ankh-Morpork as an Assassin, developing excellent skills in climbing buildings and mastering a number of languages, without ever actually getting around to killing any one, when his father dies and he returns home. An ill-judged decision to build a Great Pyramid (called Ptaclusp's Folly after the inept construction firm) for his father's mummy leads to something described as a dimensional collapse, removing the valley from the time and space continuum. The camel (whose name is not suitable for a family site, as it reflects the anger engendered when it refuses to do anything until hit and sworn at) carries Pteppic and the servant Ptraci, who turns out to be his half-sister, to safety; he later provides the mathematical expertise needed to return the valley to the normal universe, if anything in the Discworld can be considered normal. A number of other famous camel mathematicians are mentioned, mostly with unprintable names. We do learn that You Vicious Brute developed the Theory of Transient Integrals.

While Ralph may not have read the entire book, he was seen chuckling over some of the camel names.

Answer: The New York Trilogy

'The New York Trilogy' was completed over the course of three years and consists of three different novellas-- 'City of Glass', 'Ghosts', and 'The Locked Room', all of which contain mysteries and all of which contain detectives. The beautiful thing about the trilogy is its tendency not only to pare down and flip the detective novel genre on its head, but to flip the detective novel in a different direction, towards the reader. In a truly postmodern take on the detective novel, Auster questions the meanings of signs, words, letters, and mere ideas which haunt a text...or a mind...or a psyche...or even other ideas. In a way, none of the mysteries of the book ever really get solved, but I guess that's the point of anti-detective fiction.

Kyleisalive recommended this head-scratcher to Ralph. Certainly a thinker.

Answer: Anna Dewdney

Anna Dewdney has written and illustrated a series of books featuring a young llama and his mama. 'Llama Llama Red Pajama' (published in 2005) uses simple rhyme to tell the story of a baby llama who becomes anxious after being tucked into bed by his mama. EmmaF2008 isn't sure if it was the rhymes or the pretty pictures which appealed to Ralph!

Julia Donaldson is the author of 'The Gruffalo' which was illustrated by Axel Scheffler. Margery Williams is the author of the famous children's picture-book 'The Velveteen Rabbit', while Eoin Colfer is most famous for his'"Artemis Fowl' series, which appeals to slightly older readers.