The Sixth Ever Quite Niche Children’s Literature Christmas Quiz

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Yes, the one where I try to desperately avoid making typos and hope that I’ve not messed up (apologies in advance if I have….) – it’s the Christmas quiz!

If you’re new here, I’ve done a Christmas quiz of a Very Niche Literary Nature over the past few years (here’s the archive). I publish the quiz itself on Christmas Eve and you get the answers on New Year’s Eve. It is a thank you to you and yours for all your support over the year. I am a small, happy fish within the world and it’s all down to people like you. Thank you! Please get at least one point!

There are five rounds of five questions each and a bonus tiebreaker round. Good luck!

Round One: Lucky Thirteen!

Please name the author of….

• Room 13
• The Secret of Platform 13
• The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear
• 13 Secrets
• The 13-Storey Treehouse

Round Two: Trilingual Translations

These Chalet School titles have been translated from English into French and then into German and then back into English with the help of Google Translate. Name that Chalet School book!

• The Chalet School Wins the Tour
• A Headmaster of the Chalet School
• The Chalet School Repeats the Violation
• The Bride Runs the Chalet School
• The Transition to Adulthood at the Chalet School

Round Three: Name That Mountain

The Chalet School girls loved nothing more than falling off a mountain or getting stuck on top of one – so can you figure these anagrammed mountains? (Some of them, I think, might be more “alpine passes” or “alms” or “hills” then actual “mountains” but I am not a “geographer” so let’s just let that moment of doubt add a bit of frisson to this round…).

• Jon Thrice
• Cents Sondheim Zip
• Be Of Prank
• Cozen Snipe Thinness
• Badman Blare

Round Four: Hot Doctor Said What?

We are on a Chalet School theme, I know, but what else can you do when there’s a hot doctor on the loose….SO. Which hot doctor said the following? And in which book? (I was terribly tempted just to put “hello” in this, but I am a merciful quiz mistress and have not…)

• “Right! Move back, [NAME]! [NAME], secure the rope round the axe. What’s that? Climbing-net? Good! Give him to me!”
• “Have your lemonade and take a Leckerli each. You girls are rotten bad hostesses. Here’s poor [NAME] standing looking longingly at everything and you can’t even offer her one little cake!”
• “I think you will all like to know that the dolls’ house has netted twenty-five pounds five shillings”
• “…I will take a lantern now and go as far as I dare by its light, but I doubt if we shall find anything until the morning.”
• “I thought perhaps the poor thing was shy of promenading down the aisle with everyone staring at her and I was trying to encourage her.”

Round Five: Name that animal book!

All of the following are quotes from a children’s book about or heavily featuring a particular animal. Your job is to name that book and the author…

• Name that pony book: “The spotted circus horse with a back as flat as a table from years of being danced on by ladies in spangles and rosined shoes”
• Name that dog book:  “[NAME] was outpaced by a man in a bowler hat and dark suit, carrying a briefcase. He had walked from Tooting and was going to his office in the City, where he liked to be at his desk by half past eight in the morning. He did this every morning – he was not a married man.” (god what an AMAZING bit of writing this is)
• Name that cat book: “It gratifies me to see how mighty you have become, my familiar…”
• Name that rabbit book: “…but my yellow-and-blue-and-orange-and-pink spotty wellies are what I love best! I never take them off, not ever”
• Name that bird book: “As he stared at the giant bird hovering over the fells, [NAME] remembered the thing Mum had said once. “We all come back as birds, [NAME]! Isn’t that a lovely thought? All the lost souls of our loved ones come back with wings.”

Tiebreaker: Ceci N’est Pas Une Author!

It’s an icy night and the magritter’s out – the only problem is that they’ve magritted some authors. Your job is to see beyond the apple and name that author!