The War with Grandpa
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40 free The War with Grandpa trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Robert Kimmel Smith's 1984 novel starts with a simple injustice: ten-year-old Peter is told to hand his bedroom to his grieving grandfather. Peter loves his grandpa, but he loves that room too, so he declares war. What follows is a run of sneak attacks and counterattacks that is funny on the surface and surprisingly serious underneath. This quiz follows the story from the first note to the peace settlement: who is who in Peter's household, what each side steals or sabotages, the history lessons Peter's friends bring to the fight, and what the two finally learn about talking things through. A handful of questions cover the author's life and the film adaptation, including what the movie changed. It is written for students finishing the book, for teachers and parents who want a quick comprehension check, and for anyone who read it years ago and wants to see how much stuck. Every answer comes with a short explanation.
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Q 01Which two-time Oscar winner plays the grandfather in the 2020 film version of The War with Grandpa?
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro filmed the comedy in 2017, but the collapse of its first distributor kept it off screens until 2020. He plays Ed, a recent widower talked into moving in with his daughter's family.
Q 02In The War with Grandpa, what do Peter and Grandpa do together on the day they take a break from fighting?
Go fishing
They go fishing for flounder on a boat on Long Island Sound, and Peter has a terrific time. The peace does not last: that same night he raids Grandpa's room again.
Q 03In The War with Grandpa, stealing which of Grandpa's belongings makes Peter so ashamed that he ends the war?
His false teeth
His false teeth are the last thing Peter takes. Seeing how sad and old Grandpa looks without them, Peter hands them back, says sorry and declares the war over.
Q 04In The War with Grandpa, Grandpa's first strike is to remove all the pieces from which of Peter's board games?
Monopoly
Monopoly is the game Peter and his friends sit down to play, only to find every piece gone. Grandpa calls the pieces prisoners of war and vows to hold them until the war is over.
Q 05In the 2020 film The War with Grandpa, which game do the grandfather and his friends play against Peter's gang?
Dodgeball
Dodgeball pits the two generations against each other, with a store worker named Diane joining the older team. The match is called a tie after one of the older players hurts his jaw in the deciding round.
Q 06In The War with Grandpa, which state does the widowed Grandpa leave behind to move in with Peter's family?
Florida
Florida, and the city of Fort Lauderdale, had been Grandpa's home. After his wife died he grew lonely, so Peter's parents invited him to come and live with them.
Q 07At the end of The War with Grandpa, which part of the house does Grandpa turn into an apartment for himself?
The basement
The basement becomes Grandpa's own little apartment, which hands Peter his old room back. Grandpa comes up with the plan himself once the two of them finally talk honestly.
Q 08In The War with Grandpa, which name does Peter sign on the note declaring war that he leaves for Grandpa?
The Secret Warrior
The Secret Warrior is how Peter signs his declaration, which also orders Grandpa not to tell Peter's parents. Grandpa simply does not reply, so Peter has to attack to get a reaction.
Q 09In The War with Grandpa, what does Grandpa do on a walk to show a stunned Peter that war is painful?
Slaps him
Grandpa slaps him across the face, then tells him that this is what war does: it hurts people. Peter hurries home angry and more determined to win, and Grandpa later regrets the blow.
Q 10Which Christopher Nolan thriller did the film The War with Grandpa knock off the top of the US box office?
Tenet
Tenet finally lost the top spot when the family comedy opened to $3.6 million in October 2020. That small sum was enough to win a weekend in the middle of the pandemic.
Q 11In The War with Grandpa, what is the name of Peter's little sister, who breaks the news that Grandpa is moving in?
Jenny
Jenny, short for Jennifer, learns of the plan first and insists that Peter's story should begin with her. She also wants Pac-Man and Wonder Woman in it.
Q 12In The War with Grandpa, which grade is ten-year-old Peter in when he writes down the story of his war?
Fifth
Fifth grade is where Peter's teacher asks the class to write a true story. He keeps his chapters tiny because he likes reading books with short chapters himself.
Q 13In The War with Grandpa, where is Peter sent to sleep when Grandpa is given his bedroom?
The third-floor guest room
Q 21In The War with Grandpa, what was Grandpa's trade, a skill he puts to use again around the family home?
Building houses
Building houses was Grandpa's working life, and no longer doing it is part of his sadness. Once the war wakes him up, he starts mending things all over Peter's home.
Q 22In The War with Grandpa, Peter's friend Billy compares the loss of Peter's bedroom to which famous attack?
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is Billy's comparison, while brainy Steve reaches for the American Revolution instead. Both friends urge Peter to fight for what is his.
Q 23In The War with Grandpa, which American naval hero does a frightened Peter think of on his first night upstairs?
John Paul Jones
The third-floor guest room feels spooky to Peter, who lies awake listening to noises he never heard downstairs. He had slept in his old room since he was a baby.
Q 14In The War with Grandpa, what is Peter's first attack after his written declaration of war gets no reply?
A 3 a.m. alarm
A 3 a.m. alarm, set on Grandpa's own clock, comes with a note saying room thieves do not deserve a good night's sleep. Grandpa walks straight to Peter's room to talk it over.
Q 15In The War with Grandpa, what does Peter steal in his second attack, only for Grandpa to find them in a closet?
His slippers
His slippers vanish after dinner, along with a note boasting that Grandpa will not beat him. Peter had thought about a frog in the bed but feared the shock might be too much for Grandpa's heart.
Q 16In The War with Grandpa, which anniversary present from Grandpa's late wife does Peter steal and refuse to return?
His wristwatch
His wristwatch marked forty years of marriage, so its theft pushes Grandpa to promise real retaliation. Peter returns it in a hurried swap when his sister nearly uncovers the war.
Q 17In The War with Grandpa, how does Grandpa sign the note he leaves in Peter's emptied board game box?
The Old Man
The Old Man is Grandpa's answer to Peter's own pen name. The trick works even better than planned: Peter and his two best friends end up annoyed with one another.
Q 18In The War with Grandpa, which piece of Peter's furniture does Grandpa fix after Peter's dad never gets around to it?
A rocking chair
A rocking chair that Peter once saved from being thrown out has an arm that keeps popping loose. Grandpa mends it in the middle of the war, and Peter thanks him with a kiss on the forehead.
Q 19In The War with Grandpa, what does Peter borrow from his dad to write both his story and his declaration of war?
A typewriter
A typewriter belonging to his dad does both jobs, a reminder that the novel first appeared in 1984. The typed war note orders Grandpa not to tell Peter's parents.
Q 20Since his teacher will read The War with Grandpa, what does narrator Peter put in place of his friends' curses?
Invented words
Invented words stand in whenever Billy and Steve swear, because Peter does not want his teacher reading the real thing. The outburst comes when the boys find their game sabotaged.
John Paul Jones, often called the father of the American Navy, comes to mind as Peter lies awake in the dark. With him comes an idea: Peter will fight to get his room back.
Q 24Awaiting Grandpa's revenge in The War with Grandpa, Peter compares his suspense to which figure of Greek legend?
Damocles
Damocles sat beneath a sword hanging by a single hair, which is how Peter feels while Grandpa lets him stew. The waiting makes him so jumpy that he leaves a schoolbook at home.
Q 25In The War with Grandpa, what do Peter and Grandpa agree should have been held before anyone changed rooms?
A family conference
A family conference that included Grandpa could have settled the room question before it turned into a war. Neither Peter nor Grandpa had any say in the original decision.
Q 26In The War with Grandpa, what does Peter's little sister perform on the night Grandpa and Dad play dominoes?
A ballet
A ballet, made up on the spot, earns applause from everyone. The happy evening leaves Peter unsure whether he likes being at war with Grandpa at all.
Q 27In The War with Grandpa, which kind of warfare does Peter say he is waging when Grandpa demands an end to tricks?
Guerrilla
Guerrilla is Peter's word for his sneak raids, and hearing it makes Grandpa laugh. He kisses Peter good night, which leaves Peter worried that his enemy is too nice to fight.
Q 28The 2020 film calls Peter's family the Deckers, but what is their surname in the novel The War with Grandpa?
Stokes
Stokes is the family name Robert Kimmel Smith gave Peter in his 1984 novel. A sequel, The War with Grandma, co-written with Ann Dee Ellis, followed in 2021.
Q 29The 2020 film names him Ed, but what is Grandpa's first name in Robert Kimmel Smith's novel The War with Grandpa?
Jack
Jack is Grandpa's name on the page, where he is the father of Peter's mother, Sally. The film renamed him Ed Marino and opens with him causing a scene at a grocery store self-checkout.
Q 30Which children's book by The War with Grandpa author Robert Kimmel Smith grew from a story he told his young daughter?
Chocolate Fever
Chocolate Fever, his first children's book, came out in 1972 and has sold more than two million copies. Its hero is a boy who loves chocolate more than anything else.