More 20th Century Children's Book Authors Quiz

Answer: Margaret Murry

Meg Murry and her brother Charles Wallace Murry share lead roles in three of the books, while Sandy and Dennys, their twin brothers, are highlighted in "Many Waters". Later books in the series deal with Meg's daughter, Poly (aka Polly) O'Keefe.

Answer: Catherine Sefton is really a man.

Catherine Sefton's real name is Martin Waddell, and several of the Sefton books have now been reprinted under the author's true name.

Answer: Catherine Jinks

Catherine Jinks has written several other books, including "Eye to Eye" and "What's Hector McKerrow Doing These Days?" Heather is the main character in "Witchbank", Mercy is a character in "Hector McKerrow" and Catherine George is a British romance writer.

Answer: They all had their first books published while in their teens.

Almost all these young authors continued to write and publish books for some years. At least two of them are still writing, and only one, Lynne Ellison, seems to have vanished without trace.

Answer: They were fantasy writers who wrote only two books each.

For some strange reason these very capable authors wrote just two books each. Pope was the author of "The Sherwood Ring" and "The Perilous Gard", Walker wrote "The Winter of Enchantment" and "The House Called Hadlows" and Weldrick produced "Time Sweep" and "The Blakeley Ghost".

At least two of the titles are considered among the best of their kind and period. I have never been able to find out why they never wrote anything else.

Answer: Noel Streatfeild

Noel Streatfeild wrote a great many other books, including "Party Frock", "Tennis Shoes" and the Gemma series. She continued to produce novels almost until her death. Almost all her books dealt with dancing or acting in some form or another, but they were set in many countries and many decades.

Answer: The stories dealt with teenage love, sexuality and pregnancy, or with death.

The titles in question included Kamm's "Young Mother", Arundel's "The Longest Weekend" and Southall's "Matt and Jo" and "Finn's Folly". The first two featured unmarried mothers in their teens, and the later two made it pretty plain that mid-teens have sexual feelings, even when a parent is recently dead.

This was considered pretty shocking in the 1960s and early 70s! And yet - sex and death have been around in children's books for much longer than that. Look at all the Victorian tales in which characters died and other characters married and had babies! There is even an unmarried mother in one of L.M. Montgomery's books, the well loved "The Blue Castle".

Answer: Tommy and Annika

Tommy and Annika lived next door to Pippi and often shared her adventures. Benny and Annifrid and Bjorn and Agnetha were also Scandinavian, but they belonged to the pop group ABBA. Peter and Heidi come from a Swiss story called "Heidi", by Johanna Spyri.

Answer: Their books have sometimes been banned or removed from schools.

Both these incredibly popular authors have sometimes had their books removed from schools and libraries. The reasons given begin with jingoism, racism and sexism and end with accusations of poor literary quality, unreality and the addictive nature of the worlds within.

A great many adults recall these books with affection, while others bristle at the sounds of the authors' names. Me? In my 1960s childhood I read one Blyton and no Johns. My mother didn't approve.

Answer: All these statements are correct.

Magical power, and its effect on young protagonists, is a recurring theme for both these authors. Troy in "The Haunting", Sorry in "The Changeover", Cat in "Charmed Life" and Charles in "Witch Week" all find magical power brings them misery and pain as well as strength. Laura Chant is the heroine of Mahy's "The Changeover" and Eric 'Cat' Chant is the hero of Jones' "Charmed Lives".