Childrens Book Characters Quiz

How well do you know your characters from classic children's story books? If you think you are up to it, why not have a go at these free quizzes to see how well you do.

This page is intended for children of all ages - well at least old enough to be of reading age, but anywhere from there up to the point where you become too old to read and to remember the books that you loved when you were growing up.

Of course if you are ageing like me you might have forgotten some of these stories and their characters, or indeed some of them might be new to you.

Like me I imagine that you too grew up with your favorite books, and for me Children's Adventure Stories were my world. I loved reading about children investigating mysteries and visiting strange ruined castles, or going off exploring, which were the kind of thing that most of us never got to do in real life.

I hope you enjoy the quizzes, and I hope you are able to solve most if not all of them.

If you have children (or grandchildren) and you see some books listed here that bring back memories from your childhood, these books still make a very good read today. They might thank you for introducing them to the adventure stories that you grew up with.

Finally, if you come across any books here that you are not familiar with, why not click on the links for the books and find out more information on them. The stories might be old, but they are still wonderful adventures for children to get lost in.

Intro image courtesy of Pickpocket Books

The correct answer to the first quiz question was of course The Famous Five, which is a series of 21 books written by Enid Blyton and which features siblings Julian, Dick, Anne, their cousin George (NOT Georgina!) and her dog Timmy.

The Five have some wonderful adventures during their holidays together, exploring ruined castles, uncovering mysteries, and the stories are written in such a way as to have the reader captivated.

The Famous Five series was written between 1942 and 1962 and the settings for the stories are places in the county of Dorset on the south coast of England, an area which Enid Blyton fell in love with.

The Famous Five is a series of books that were written by Enid Blyton, a prolific English author who published over 700 books in her lifetime.

Most British children who grew up between the 1940s and 1970s in the UK were brought up on Enid Blyton's books, as well as children across the Commonwealth, in countries like Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and even India.

The Famous Five is one of Enid Blyton's most popular series of books, and this sees four children and their dog have some wonderful adventures.

Trivia: Although I loved reading the Famous Five as a child, it was only about 10 years ago that I found out Enid loved the county of Dorset where I grew up and spent a lot of time here. I never imagined that many of these wonderful adventures were conceived on my doorstep.

The correct answer to the second quiz question was Doctor Dolittle, the first book in the series being written by Hugh Lofting in 1920.

The good doctor lives in the coastal village of Puddleby, and has some difficulty in dealing with his human patients, however his parrot "Polynesia" teaches him animal language, and soon all the sick animals in the area are coming to him for help.

The book sees Doctor Dolittle sailing to the coast of Africa to help the monkees who are having problems, and together with his animal friends they have some wonderful adventures.

I can remember reading this book when I was much younger, and I think it was the first book that I had read that didn't have pictures in it. I was captivated.

The stories were collectively made into a movie in 1967 starring Rex Harrison.

The more recent Doctor Dolittle movies starring Eddie Murphy are based on the same principle that a doctor can talk to the animals, but the storylines are different.

For many this might have proved difficult to solve, but the answer to the third quiz question is Swallows And Amazons which was written by Arthur Ransome and first published in 1930.

Swallows and Amazons is set in the English Lake District, where siblings John, Susan Titty and Roger go on holiday with their parents. The children borrow an old dinghy and while out sailing on the lake meet two girls, Nancy and Peggy.

They begin as rivals, but soon become firm friends and have some fun adventures, which include a fun challenge against Nancy and Peggy's Uncle, who they name "Captain Flint" after the pirate in Treasure Island.

The book is one of a series about the children, and was made into a delightful film in 1974 starring Virginia KcKenna and Ronald Fraser.

If you like stories about pirates then I am sure you got the fourth quiz question right, even though the characters that I listed weren't necessarily the main ones in the story (I omitted Long John Silver for a start).

Treasure Island is Robert Louis Stevenson's classic adventure set in the South West of England and also on a secret island which is believed to be based on a location in the British Virgin Islands.

The story of Treasure Island was originally published in a children's magazine, but subsequently published as a complete book the following year in 1883.

This is a brilliant book which both children and adults will enjoy reading. The story has been dramatised more times than any other story about pirates, and has also given rise to many misconceptions about pirates, for example treasure maps having the legend "X marks the spot" and pirates having parrots on their shoulders.

Trivia: The author was living in my hometown of Bournemouth at the time he wrote Treasure Island. His home was later burned down during the Second World War and is now the site of a memorial garden.

The Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame is the answer to the fifth quiz question, and if you didn't get this one right I am sure by now that you will be kicking yourself.

First published in 1908, this is a wonderful story of animal friends Mole, Ratty, Toad and Badger and it takes place along the river in a quiet rural part of England at the end of the Victorian era. At least this is when the story was written, but for most younger readers it could be set in any time period.

The four have some great adventures, and some parts of the book are funny, others a bit scary for younger readers, but as always there is a happy ending.

Trivia: The author Kenneth Grahame was a secretary at the Bank Of England, who retired in 1908 and enjoyed "messing about in boats" much like the characters in his book, which was based on bedtime stories that he told to his son.

Some of these books have been turned into classic movies in their own right, and some of them have been filmed several times. Here are a few clips from them.

I would be surprised if you got this one correct, but Kudos to you if you did!

The Little Grey Men is the correct answer to the sixth quiz question, and I completely agree with many of the comments left on Amazon in that this book ought to become more well known. Despite having won an award for the "Most Outstanding Children's Book of 1942", The Little Grey Men has ceased to be mainstream children's literature, which is a great pity.

Written by Denys Watkins-Pitchford and published in 1942 under the pen name "BB", The Little Grey Men is the story of the last four Gnomes in England, who live beside Folly Brook in the county of Warwickshire.

The story begins after one of the Gnomes, Cloudberry, has gone out exploring and not returned. His three friends decide to build a boat and to go off and find him, and here their adventures begin, and good ones they are too. Follow the friends as they venture into the much feared "Wild Woods" and overcome their fears as they seek to find their friend.

The story is every bit as enjoyable to read and as exciting to discover as The Wind In The Willows. Maybe one day soon this virtually forgotten classic will make a comeback.

Trivia: This story was read to me by our vicar at Sunday School many years ago and I have always had a fondness for it.

The characters I listed on question seven might have the correct answer on the tip of your tongue, so close but so far away. If you guessed correctly, you would have selected Anna Sewell's classic novel Black Beauty.

Written by Anna Sewell and first published in 1877, Black Beauty is a much loved book that tells the story of a horse through good times and bad, from his birth to a ripe old age. The book literally brings Victorian England to life through the narration of the horse, and the book has been dramatised numerous times, my personal favourite being the 1994 movie which stars Sean Bean Sharpes, National Treasure) and David Thewlis (Harry Potter).

Anna Sewell broke both her ankles at the age of 14 and had problems walking. It was partly due to this that she developed a love for and respect of horses. Although Anna's mother was a writer, and she met other writers during her life, Black Beauty was her only book. Tragically Anna died only 5 months after Black Beauty was published, and it is the sixth best seller in the English language.

The eighth book is not as well known in the USA as it is in the UK, but it's a classic and a great story from the turn of the century. It is of course The Railway Children by Edith Nesbitt which was first published in 1906.

The book tells the story of three children and their mother, who had to leave their house and move to the country after their father, who worked in the Foreign Office was arrested for selling secrets to the Russians. The children love to wave at passengers on the steam trains that run along at the end of their garden, and develop a fondness for an "Old Gentleman" who frequents the train and who always waves back to them.

The children have some adventures that involve the railway and local characters, and the book was made into a wonderful movie in 1970, starring Jenny Agutter as the eldest daughter.

Trivia: Jenny Agutter returned in a 2000 remake of the story, only this time she played the children's mother.

I imagine you got this one right, given the excellent movies that were recently released about Narnia. The ninth book is of course The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe, one of the Narnia series that were written by C.S. Lewis.

The book was first published in 1950, and the story is set in 1940, and begins at the height of the blitz in England, with the four Pevensie children (Peter, Susan, Edmond and Lucy) being evacuated to a big house in the country that belongs to a professor.

While exploring the house during a game of hide and seek, Lucy discovers a room in which there is a wardrobe. She decides to hide inside there, finds that the wardrobe is full of fur coats, and then magically finds herself in another world, the kingdom of Narnia.

I am sure you know the rest of the story, and the Narnia series has seen a big resurgence in popularity following the success of the recent movies.

This tenth question might have some of you puzzled, but if you have seen the 2000 television movie that was made about the book then the places and characters are hard to forget. The book is of course Lorna Doone which was written by R.D. Blackmore and published in 1869.

Lorna Doone was first published anonymously in a three volume edition, and of the 500 copies printed, only 300 sold. It was reprinted a year later as a single volume, and was critically aclaimed. Lorna Doone has not been out of print since.

The story is set in 17th century Exmoor in the southwest of England. The moors are a bleak place, and ruled over by a family of outlaws, the Doones. The tale follows the love affair of a local farmer, John Ridd, with the adopted daughter of the head of the Doone family.

Some of the events in the book are real, some are fictional, but the places do exist, like the Lynn Valley, Bagworthy Water and the town of Tiverton.

Trivia: My uncle lives on Exmoor and it's a wonderful place to visit, in fact you can go on the trail of Lorna Doone and visit numerous places that are mentioned in the book.

Some of these books have been turned into classic movies in their own right, and some of them have been filmed several times. Here are a few clips from them.