Nobody Was Here Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1981

The first sentence on the back cover of "Nobody was Here: Seventh Grade in the life of Me, Penelope" is: "It is 1981, and Penelope Schwartzbaum is adrift." Penelope is a seventh grader trying to find where she belongs. Unfortunately, fitting in at middle school is tougher than it looks, especially at the New York private school she attends.

There, everyone is obsessed with colleges and the teachers are extremely strict.

Answer: Penelope

The story is told by Penelope. Penelope is trying to find out who her real friends are, as well as discover if her family is hiding a secret. In her spare time, Penelope likes searching the neighborhood for "Moe was Here"s. Moe is an artist who writes "Moe was Here" in various places throughout town. Penelope walks around after school and sees if she can find them.

Answer: Stacey

Stacey and Penelope have been best friends forever. But lately Penelope feels like "they don't match" anymore. It's because they don't have a lot in common and Penelope always follows whatever Stacey says. She's getting tired of trying to fake her way in the school.

Answer: Nathaniel

At the beginning of the story it is revealed that Penelope's younger brother is named Nathaniel. Nathaniel isn't as mature as Penelope and still depends on babysitters to take care of him. He is very imaginative and loves to sing songs depending on his mood.

Answer: No Newks

Anabella Blumberg, the popular girl, and her second-in-command Pia Smith decide to start a club called No Newks because they don't like new kids at school. They start a newsletter and make pencils and T-shirts with their slogan. Penelope decides to join only because Stacey is. But inside she knows it's wrong.

Answer: Everyone thinks she's been writing on the walls

Tilly is another person who starts to break away from her best friend and doesn't like No Newks or Anabella. She starts talking to Penelope about how she doesn't think she fits in and she knows that what everyone's doing is wrong. She even hints that she's the one writing anti-No Newks messages on the walls. Everyone finds out and starts teasing her.

This causes Tilly to get kicked out of the 'group'.

Answer: Cass

Penelope is taking a walk one day when she runs into a girl with heart-shaped sunglasses that only have one piece of glass in them. Penelope immediately gets an uneasy feeling from the girl, Cass, because she starts talking and acting weird. Penelope realizes she's new in town and starts ignoring and avoiding her, partly because she's new and partly because she's weird.

Answer: To get invited to Anabella's bat mitzvah

Everyone starts saying that they only joined the No Newks club because they wanted to be friends with Anabella and get invited to her amazing bat mitzvah. Penelope ends up attending, but is so unfocused that she doesn't even remember it at all. When Stacey becomes best friends with Anabella and Pia, she starts to change too.

Answer: Penelope

Penelope is revealed to be the one writing on the walls because it shows that she wrote on her desk and didn't even remember. The handwriting in the bathroom is the same and plus Tilly and Cass have been calling Penelope telling her she should confess to writing on the walls. Eventually she gets in trouble for writing on her desk.

Answer: Penelope, Tillie, and Cass

The three characters that, surprisingly, end up as best friends are Penelope, Tillie, and Cass. Tillie was friends with Cass already and when Penelope stopped talking to Stacey she joined their group. They realize that since none of them even like Anabella they don't need to hang out with her.