Children's Author Trivia Archives - Page 13 of 13

July 15, 2010May 24, 2012

Trivia Volume 3 Answers

Here are the answers to last week’s trivia questions.

Question 7. This author obtained a law degree and practiced law for nine years in order to finance his true passion, writing. On the way to his degree, he did a stint as a “yard teacher.” Who used this experience to write a successful series of books?

Louis Sachar was the author who turned his experience as “Louis the Yard Teacher” into the popular Sideways Stories from Wayside School series, featuring guess who, Louis the Yard Teacher. The stories are wacky, but speak to how people can get caught up within a school culture.

Hey, adults out there: have you read these books?

Find out more at Louis Sachar’s website.

Question 8. Following in his father’s footsteps, this author won the Newbery medal only two years after his father won for his own book. Watch what you write about him, he founded the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to English. Who is this author and grammar watchdog?

Okay, I made this one pretty tough. Paul Fleischman won the Newbery Medal for his book Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices in 1989, two years after his dad, Sid Fleischman won for The Whipping Boy in 1987. Talk about keeping it all in the family.

Question 9. This author credits her bittersweet childhood growing up poor in West Virginia as a source of material for her books. She felt it was both a curse and a gift. Who is this versatile children’s book author?

This was the toughest of all. Would you believe it is Cynthia Rylant, award-winning author of every type of children’s book imaginable?

For more info, check her biography at the Educational Book & Media Association.

July 8, 2010May 24, 2012

Children’s Author Trivia Volume 2 Answers

Answers to last week’s trivia:

Question 4. What author was inspired to write is book about an island when he made a map of an imaginary island to entertain his stepson? He said, “It was elaborately and (I thought) beautifully coloured…as I pored upon my map of …the future characters of the book began to appear there visibly among imaginary woods;…”

Zann was absolutely right, this is a quote from Robert Louis Stevenson, talking about what inspired him to write Treasure Island. I thought the spelling of “coloured” might be a useful hint.

Question 5. This beloved children’s author produced many detailed watercolor illustrations of fungi early in her career and would have considered a career in science if she hadn’t been discouraged by others. Who was this budding mycologist turned author?

Eilonwy and Pann both got this one correct. Beatrix Potter studied fungi, but was disappointed after the results of her first paper were discounted. Later she was proved correct, but by then she was a famous children’s book author.

If you haven’t checked the Peter Rabbit website, it has a lovely page of Beatrix Potter’s fungi.

Question 6. Who spent her early childhood in China and four years in Japan, before taking up writing? (Two of her books were given Newbery Awards.)

The tricky question last week was about Katherine Paterson, author of Newbery Medal winners Bridge to Terabithia and Jacob Have I Loved. She also wrote the Newbery Honor book, The Great Gilly Hopkins. For more about Katherine Paterson, check her website and this video.

July 1, 2010May 24, 2012

Children’s Author Trivia Volume 2

Are you ready for the answers to last week’s Children’s Author Trivia?

Question 1. (easy) This author’s most famous work is about her own family life, with herself and her three sisters as characters. Can you name the author and the book?

As Karen correctly surmised, this was referring to Louisa May Alcott’s book Little Women.

Question 2. (moderately difficult) What children’s author found the books she had donated to her son’s school had been banned from the shelves?

Although she said she didn’t have a clue, Karen nailed this one too. The book that was banned after she donated it was Judy Blume’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.

Question 3. And finally, here’s a tricky one: What author typed the manuscript for her most famous book on a typewriter with a faulty w, and had to fill all the w’s in by hand?

Okay, this was the ultimate in trivia. The author with the faulty typewriter is Lucy Maud Montgomery and the manuscript she completed was for Anne of Green Gables. (Can you imagine what it must have been like to put together a manuscript in the days before wordprocessing?)

How well do you know your children’s book authors? Want to try your hand at some new questions?

Question 6. Who spent her early childhood in China and four years in Japan, before taking up writing? (Two of her books were given Newbery Awards.)

Edit: The answers are now up.