The Revealers
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40 free The Revealers trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Revealers, Doug Wilhelm's 2003 novel about bullying, follows three picked-on middle schoolers who stop hiding and start publishing. Russell, Elliot and Catalina collect real stories from classmates and send them round the school, and the adults in charge are not sure they like it. More than a thousand schools have read the book together, which is why so many students go looking for a practice test. This quiz covers the whole story: the main characters and the kids who torment them, the key scenes, the teachers and parents, the forum's rise and fall, and the ending. A last group of questions looks at the author and how the book came to be written. Every question is multiple choice with a short explanation, so it works as a chapter review, a study guide before a final test, or a quick check after finishing the book.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In The Revealers, what does Elliot Gekewicz lose himself in to escape his daily tormentors?
Dinosaurs
Dinosaurs are Elliot's obsession: he lugs big dinosaur encyclopedias around and ties any school project to them if he can. Even his network address comes from one, the small, sharp-eyed troodon.
Q 02What drink does a menacing eighth grader pour over Russell Trainor's head early in The Revealers?
Root beer
Root beer was Russell's after-school treat until an older boy emptied an ice-cold bottle of it over his head. He stops buying it because he no longer dares go near the store.
Q 03What nickname do the students of troubled Parkland Middle School give it in The Revealers?
Darkland
Darkland is what the students call the school, because nobody there does much to stop kids harassing other kids. The trio borrow the name for the e-mail bulletin they publish.
Q 04New girl Catalina Aarons in The Revealers recently moved to the United States from which country?
Philippines
The Philippines is where Catalina was born and raised. Her dignified account of how she came to Parkland is the first story the trio send round the school.
Q 05In The Revealers, three Jock Rots dangle Elliot over the side of what?
A bridge
A bridge over the river is where his tormentors hang him over the railing, above big rocks and a short waterfall. He later writes up the ordeal for his classmates to read.
Q 06In The Revealers, what do students call the self-contained network that carries their stories?
KidNet
KidNet is the local network on which every Parkland student has an account, used mostly for swapping notes with friends. It cannot be reached from outside the school without a teacher's say-so.
Q 07In The Revealers, where do the trio take their campaign after the principal shuts down the network?
The science fair
The science fair gives Russell, Elliot and Catalina one more way to go public: they enter a computer program built from their classmates' stories. The visiting judges read story after story.
Q 08Which eighth grader punches Russell and then follows and threatens him in The Revealers?
Richie Tucker
Richie Tucker comes to treat Russell as his property after a single wisecrack. The author based him on a scary older boy who once punched him for being wise.
Q 09In The Revealers, which ruler of the popular girls plants a false story to get the forum shut down?
Bethany DeMere
Bethany DeMere sends in an anonymous tale accusing herself, then lets her furious father loose on the editors. Catalina later proves who wrote it, yet chooses not to tell on her.
Q 10What does Elliot do to one of the Jock Rots holding him that gets him dropped in The Revealers?
Spits at him
Elliot spits at him, full in the face, and in the shock that follows the boys lose their grip. For once he had decided to fight back rather than take it.
Q 11Which school year are Russell, Elliot and Catalina in when they start the forum in The Revealers?
7th grade
In 7th grade Russell finds himself friendless, though he had friends all through elementary school. He narrates the story a year later, looking back.
Q 12In The Revealers, which adult runs Parkland Middle School and would rather not hear about bullying?
Mrs. Capelli
Mrs. Capelli is frightened of technology and of public opinion, and looks for an excuse to close the forum down. A bullying expert told the author that schools have all too many principals like her.
Q 13Why does Russell first approach Elliot, the most picked-on boy at school, in The Revealers?
To ask for advice
Q 21In The Revealers, what does Catalina post on the school network to answer lies told about her?
An open letter
An open letter sets out, with dignity, who she is and how she came to Parkland. Some classmates are kinder to her once they have read it.
Q 22To what kind of publication does one teacher liken the trio's story bulletin in The Revealers?
An underground newspaper
An underground newspaper is the comparison, meant as praise for the bulletin's daring. Publishers Weekly's review picked up the idea, calling the three editors underground publishers.
Q 23A class in The Revealers debates whether the Internet could have helped which persecuted group?
To ask for advice: Elliot has been everyone's target for years, so Russell hopes he knows some survival techniques. Until then Russell had only watched him get picked on.
Q 14Which subject does Ms. Hogeboom, a teacher who sympathises with the trio, teach in The Revealers?
Social studies
Social studies is her subject, and her pupils often talk on a level she doesn't know exists. The author counts her among the adults who see the cruelty and care, yet don't know how to help.
Q 15In The Revealers, what is the job of the popular girl's furious father who confronts the trio?
A lawyer
A lawyer by trade, he arrives at the principal's office accusing the editors of smearing his daughter. Only later do they work out that she set the whole thing up herself.
Q 16In The Revealers, what name do the three friends give their project and, later, their software?
The Bully Lab
The Bully Lab begins as the three friends' plan to investigate their tormentors the way scientists would. The name returns in the title of the software they unveil near the end of the book.
Q 17In The Revealers, which way of communicating does Elliot suggest that he and Russell use?
Instant messaging
Instant messaging on the school's local network lets the two boys talk by typing. The novel was written when e-mail was new to schools and messaging almost unheard-of.
Q 18What does Russell's tormentor smash when Russell tries to interview him in The Revealers?
A tape recorder
A tape recorder, borrowed from home, is destroyed when the interview turns to the older boy's father and he explodes. Russell had wanted to learn why he bullies.
Q 19Which ailment strikes Russell every afternoon in The Revealers, as it once did the bullied author?
Headaches
Headaches come on at two o'clock each afternoon, as the end of the school day and another meeting with his tormentor draw near. The author remembered the same dread from his own middle-school years.
Q 20Russell Trainor, an only child, shares a home with which relative in The Revealers?
His mother
His mother sees what is happening to him and is appalled, asking why what would be a crime between adults gets shrugged off among kids. His father died when Russell was a baby.
Jews in wartime Europe
Jews in wartime Europe come up because the class is reading Anne Frank's diary, and the teacher wonders aloud what might have changed had she been online. Publishers Weekly called the discussion fascinating.
Q 24In The Revealers, Elliot's fall leaves him with a minor concussion and which other injury?
A sprained ankle
A sprained ankle, a bad one, puts Elliot on crutches, and he scrapes an arm as well. He then writes the whole episode up for his classmates to read.
Q 25What must Russell, Elliot and Catalina do for the girl named in the false story in The Revealers?
Apologise in writing
They must apologise in writing, which Russell hates doing, even though the story was a trap she laid herself. Catalina later proves who really wrote it.
Q 26In The Revealers, what does the principal agree to do after admiring visitors heap praise on her?
Lift her ban
She agrees to lift her ban on the students' online forum, after the visitors congratulate her so warmly on a project she had tried to stop. The three editors get their bulletin back.
Q 27By the end of The Revealers, what have Russell and the eighth grader who tormented him reached?
A friendly understanding
A friendly understanding grows between the two, and each comes to accept the other. The author says many readers name the former tormentor as their favourite character.
Q 28Which member of the Jock Rots turns against the group and follows his conscience in The Revealers?
Big Chris
Big Chris started as a background figure, until the author's editor found him interesting and asked for more. He became a follower who discovers his conscience and stands up for what is right.
Q 29The author of The Revealers gathered real-life stories from pupils in which state, his home?
Vermont
Vermont is where he lives, and pupils in three of its schools each wrote him one real experience of bullying. He promised to study their stories, not steal them.
Q 30Which 2012 sequel to The Revealers follows Russell, Elliot and Catalina into their next school year?
True Shoes
True Shoes takes its title from an old proverb about a lie racing round the world before the truth has laced up. The author brought it out through his own imprint, Long Stride Books.