All of the Above
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
7correct to beat the crowd
40 free All of the Above trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
All of the Above is Shelley Pearsall's novel about a middle-school math club that sets out to build the largest tetrahedron anyone has ever made. It is based on a real project at an inner-city Ohio school, and each of its heroes carries troubles the others cannot see. This quiz covers the whole book: James Harris III, Marcel, Sharice and Rhondell, their teacher Mr. Collins, the families and neighbors around them, the night everything goes wrong, and the ending. A few questions look at the geometry of the shape itself and at how the author came to write the story. It is written for students checking what they remember before a class test, for teachers who want a ready-made quiz on the novel, and for book clubs and families reading it together.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which Ohio city do the four students of Shelley Pearsall's All of the Above attend middle school?
Cleveland
Cleveland is both the novel's setting and the home of the real school whose students inspired it. The author grew up in one of the city's suburbs.
Q 02In All of the Above, what kind of business does Marcel's father, Willy Q, run in the neighborhood?
A barbecue joint
A barbecue joint named Willy Q's is a neighborhood landmark in the story. At one school that read the novel together, the cafeteria staff wore Willy Q's shirts.
Q 03What does Mr. Collins offer James Harris III for joining the math club in All of the Above?
A passing grade
A passing grade in math is the deal, because James is failing the class. He turns up planning to sit in the room and do nothing at all.
Q 04Which pattern do the colored pieces of the finished tetrahedron follow in All of the Above?
A rainbow
A rainbow pattern is James's idea, and it gives the angriest boy in the club a real stake in the project. The real school's pyramids glowed in the same bright colors.
Q 05In All of the Above, James Harris III and his friends bet on which item Mr. Collins will wear to class?
His tie
His tie is the only thing about math class that keeps James and his friends awake. The bets show how little the lessons reach the room when the story opens.
Q 06In All of the Above, Mr. Collins hopes the giant tetrahedron will earn his students a place in which publication?
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records is the target Mr. Collins sets, by building a tetrahedron bigger than any school has managed. Rhondell hopes a listing will help her future.
Q 07With whom is Sharice living during the school year covered by Shelley Pearsall's All of the Above?
A foster parent
A foster parent, the fifth Sharice has had, is rarely home in the evenings. The after-school club becomes the closest thing she has to a family.
Q 08Which talent does school-hating James Harris III quietly excel at in All of the Above?
Drawing
Drawing is the one thing James cares about, and his sketches appear as the book's illustrations. School, he insists, has nothing to teach him.
Q 09Which task does Sharice forget on the night the unfinished tetrahedron is wrecked in All of the Above?
Locking the door
Locking the door slips Sharice's mind after she stays late working alone, and intruders smash the club's work. The crushed team almost refuses to start over.
Q 10In All of the Above, what does quiet Rhondell dream of that no one in her family has done?
Going to college
Going to college is Rhondell's secret hope, and she thinks a world record might help her get there. Her mother warns that it will take brains or luck.
Q 11In All of the Above, what do Mr. Collins's bored students say would make them care about class?
A contest
A contest is the lukewarm answer he gets, so the twenty-year veteran starts an after-school club to chase a world record. He had just lost his temper with a class that would not listen.
Q 12Which grade are James, Marcel, Sharice and Rhondell in when they join the club in All of the Above?
Seventh
Seventh grade is where Mr. Collins teaches math, to a class he is struggling to reach. The real students who inspired the story were middle schoolers too.
Q 13Which simple supplies do the students in All of the Above use to build each small tetrahedron?
Paper and glue
Q 21Which club office does reluctant James Harris III take over when Marcel must leave early in All of the Above?
President
President, or Prez for short, is the job that changes James: once he is in charge, he starts to care. Rhondell is the one who notices the difference in him.
Q 22What does James Harris III take from his brother DJ as a bargaining chip in All of the Above?
A basketball jersey
A basketball jersey that DJ treasures becomes James's hostage: he will return it only if DJ's friends leave the tetrahedron alone. James is sure they were the vandals.
Q 23In which weather is Sharice discovered stranded outside her own house in All of the Above?
A blizzard
Paper and glue are all it takes: the students fold and stick small pyramids by the hundred, then join them into ever bigger ones.
Q 14Each face of a tetrahedron, the shape at the heart of All of the Above, is which figure?
A triangle
A triangle forms every face, and a tetrahedron has only four of them, making it the simplest solid with flat sides. Any one of the faces can serve as the base.
Q 15Why does Marcel's father try to cut short his son's club time in All of the Above?
He needs help at work
He needs help at work, and he believes Marcel's first duty is to the family business. After the break-in, though, he is the one urging his son not to quit.
Q 16The record chased in All of the Above was set by a wealthy school in which US state?
California
California was home to the school whose Stage 6 tetrahedron held the record. Mr. Collins's class aims one stage higher, which means four times as many pieces.
Q 17Which holiday party does list-making Sharice organize for the after-school club in All of the Above?
Christmas
Christmas gets a club party because Sharice plans it, just as she keeps the lists that hold the project together. All the while she hides how bad things are at home.
Q 18Willy Q, Marcel's father in All of the Above, is a veteran of the war in which country?
Vietnam
Vietnam is where Willy Q once served as a soldier. Marcel wants neither the army nor the family business for himself.
Q 19Besides acting, which career does smooth-talking Marcel hope for in Shelley Pearsall's All of the Above?
A comedian
A comedian or an actor is what Marcel plans to be, and he has the charm for it. The book introduces him as Marcel the Magnificent.
Q 20Which relative shares an apartment with James Harris III and his older brother DJ in All of the Above?
His uncle
His uncle gives James a home, but it is domineering DJ and his rough friends who fill the apartment.
A blizzard is raging when friends find Sharice shut out of the house with nobody home. Her private troubles are a secret no longer.
Q 24After Sharice is found shut out in the cold in All of the Above, which adult applies to take her in?
Aunt Asia
Aunt Asia applies to become Sharice's new guardian after she and Rhondell bring the girl home. Until then Sharice had kept her neglect to herself.
Q 25Why does James Harris III miss the day the tetrahedron is finally completed in All of the Above?
He moves away
He moves away when the family relocates, just before the last pieces go on. The boy who once refused to lift a finger leaves the others a plea to carry on.
Q 26After the tetrahedron is finished in All of the Above, where is James Harris III proud to see his name?
In the newspaper
In the newspaper is where James finds his name, after reporters turn up to cover the club's celebration.
Q 27Shelley Pearsall called writing All of the Above a stretch because of which storytelling choice?
Multiple narrators
Multiple narrators tell the story in turn: the four students, their teacher and people from the neighborhood. Each voice had to move the plot forward while sounding like nobody else.
Q 28What does All of the Above print between its chapters, thanks to Marcel's job at Willy Q's?
Recipes
Recipes for sauce, cornbread and chocolate cake separate the chapters. The author and her husband had to test them all, and tried the sauce even on cucumber slices and broccoli.
Q 29Where did Sharice pass her lonely evenings before she joined the club in All of the Above?
The local library
The local library, or a seat on a city bus, was where Sharice waited until someone came home to let her in. The club gave her somewhere better to be.
Q 30Besides Willy Q, which group of adults helps rebuild the wrecked tetrahedron in All of the Above?
Hairstylists
Hairstylists from the salon where Rhondell's aunt works pitch in after the break-in. By then the project belongs to the whole neighborhood.