Following on from the previous 20 pub quiz literary questions that centred on OzLit, this time ArtsHub is concentrating on bookish questions that focus on younger readers. Often children’s and YA literature are sidelined, but there are many of us whose love of the written word began with picture books, early readers, middle-grade and YA fiction. Hence, here are 20 questions that’ll test your memory and knowledge of classics and contemporary titles
1. In E B White’s Charlotte’s Web, what’s the name of the rat?
2. How old was S E Hinton when her novel The Outsiders was published? a) 20 b)18 c) 25 d) 22
3. Which Dr Seuss book uses a vocabulary of only 50 distinct words?
4. Which Australian artist-writer produced The Lost Thing?
5. Who is the Australian Children’s Laureate for 2025?
6. In 2008, which Australian author won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the world’s most lucrative award for writers of children’s literature? (Hint, their body of works includes Sleeping Dogs, Surrender and The Ghost’s Child).
7. Who did the illustrations for Mem Fox’s Where is the Green Sheep?
8. Name the farmers in Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox.
9. Who wrote The Hate U Give, which was banned across various schools and libraries in the US?
10. What are the current number of storeys in Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton’s Treehouse series? a) 169 b) 101 c) 178 d) 152?
11. What’s the name of the Parisian schoolgirl in Ludwig Bemelmans’ picture book series?
12. Who is the youngest Pevensie sibling in C S Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe?
13. What is the first animal that the mouse meets in Julia Donaldson’s The Gruffalo? a) snake b) fox c) owl d) cat?
14. What’s the real name of Lewis Caroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland?
15. Which animal represents the Soviet Communist Party in George Orwell’s Animal Farm? a) the horses b) the cows c) the pigs d) the humans?
16. Where is Anne of Green Gables set?
17. Who wrote the poem ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’?
18. What’s the first book in the quartet of dystopian novels by Lois Lowry?
19. Name the protagonist in The Hunger Games series.
Read: 20 famous closing lines in books
20. Where do Moon-Face, Silky, The Saucepan Man, Dame Washalot live?
1. Templeton. 2. b) 18. 3. Green Eggs and Ham 4. Shaun Tan. 5. Sally Rippin. 6. Sonya Hartnett. 7. Judy Horacek. 8. Boggis, Bunce and Bean. 9. Angie Thomas. 10. a) 169. 11. Madeline. 12. Lucy. 13. b) fox. 14. Charles Dodgson. 15. c) the pigs 16. Prince Edward Island, Canada. 17. Edward Lear. 18. The Giver. 19. Katniss Everdeen. 20. The Faraway Tree.
