Unwind
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
6correct to beat the crowd
50 free Unwind trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Neal Shusterman's Unwind imagines an America that has settled a bitter national argument with a chilling bargain: once a child reaches the teenage years, a signed order can send them away to be taken apart, and the law insists nobody has died. First published in 2007, the novel pointedly declines to take a side and leaves the arguing to its readers. This quiz follows Connor, Risa and Lev from the day their lives are signed away, through the safe houses and the Graveyard, to the harvest camp where their paths collide. Questions cover the plot, the characters, the invented vocabulary of Shusterman's world, the ending, and the author and sequels behind the book. It is written for students revising the novel, book clubs, teachers who want a quick check on the reading, and fans of the wider series. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so a wrong guess still teaches you something.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In Neal Shusterman's Unwind, the Second Civil War that reshapes America is fought over which issue?
Abortion
Abortion split the country until both armies accepted a grim compromise: every pregnancy must go to term, but a troublesome teenager can later be given up.
Q 02In Unwind, what are the suicide bombers who carry liquid explosive in their bloodstream called?
Clappers
Clappers set themselves off by bringing their hands together hard, which is why a burst of applause can start a stampede in the novel's world.
Q 03The Graveyard in Unwind, a desert refuge for runaway teenagers, is a storage ground for what?
Retired airplanes
Retired airplanes fill the Graveyard, and the teenagers earn their keep by stripping them for parts while sleeping in the empty cabins.
Q 04Which animal is tattooed on the arm Connor Lassiter receives from his rival Roland in Unwind?
A tiger shark
A tiger shark comes with the limb, grafted on against Connor's will after an explosion crushes his own, so he must wear his enemy's mark.
Q 05In the Unwind chapter that follows Roland's unwinding step by step, he is in what state throughout?
Fully conscious
Fully conscious and feeling no pain, he is dismantled from the feet upward over three hours, with the brain left until last.
Q 06Which injury from an explosion makes Risa Ward legally exempt from being unwound in Unwind?
Paralysis
Paralysis protects Risa because the law forbids unwinding the disabled, so she turns down a new spine to keep that shield.
Q 07What is a child like Lev Calder in Unwind, raised to be unwound as a religious offering, called?
A tithe
A tithe is a family's one-in-ten gift: Lev's parents give a tenth of everything to their church, and he is the youngest of ten children.
Q 08By what reasoning does the law in Unwind claim that an unwound teenager never actually dies?
Their parts all live on
Their parts all live on in other people, the law argues, since 99.44 percent of every unwound body must be put to use.
Q 09What nickname does the media give Connor Lassiter in Unwind after he causes a highway pile-up?
The Akron AWOL
The Akron AWOL becomes a folk hero whose legend grows with every retelling, which later makes harvest camp staff eager to be rid of him.
Q 10Risa Ward's talent on which instrument earns her a place in the harvest camp band in Unwind?
Piano
Piano keeps Risa alive for a while: the band plays on the roof of the unwinding clinic as others are led inside, and its members are spared while they perform.
Q 11Which set of constitutional amendments ends the Second Civil War in Unwind and legalizes unwinding?
The Bill of Life
The Bill of Life protects every child from unwinding until thirteen, then lets a family sign that same child away during the teenage years.
Q 12What does Unwind call the legal practice of leaving an unwanted newborn on a stranger's doorstep?
Storking
Storking obliges whoever finds the baby to raise it, unless the mother is caught in the act, in which case she must keep the child.
Q 13What are the officers who hunt down runaway teenagers marked for unwinding called in Unwind?
Juvey-cops
Juvey-cops knew about the Graveyard all along, and left it alone because it kept hundreds of runaways off the streets and out of their way.
Q 21Which antique dealer in Unwind hides runaway teenagers in the basement beneath her store?
Sonia
Sonia is nicknamed the Dragon Lady by the teenagers she shelters, yet she is the first link in the chain of safe houses that saves them.
Q 22What must each runaway do before leaving the antique store safe house in Unwind?
Write a letter
Write a letter to someone they love, the owner insists; she keeps each one unopened and posts it only if its writer never returns to collect it.
Q 23Which urban legend in Unwind has a couple hunting everyone who received their unwound son's parts?
Humphrey Dunfee
Humphrey Dunfee is the horror story the runaways swap on a sleepless night in hiding, and the novel's last chapter shows the truth is far gentler.
Q 14Why is fifteen-year-old Risa Ward, a ward of an Ohio state home, sent to be unwound in Unwind?
To cut orphanage costs
To cut orphanage costs is the only reason given: Risa has done nothing wrong, and she hears the news a week after performing at a recital.
Q 15What medical emergency strikes the Admiral during the riot at the Graveyard in Unwind?
A heart attack
A heart attack fells him, and even then he refuses a replacement taken from an unwound teenager, insisting on old-fashioned surgery instead.
Q 16How does Lev Calder create a diversion at the high school in Unwind after reporting Connor and Risa?
He pulls the fire alarm
He pulls the fire alarm out of guilt, and in the stampede that follows he is separated from the pair he has just betrayed.
Q 17Which act from his past drives the Admiral in Unwind to shelter runaway teenagers at the Graveyard?
Having his own son unwound
Having his own son unwound was expected of him as one of the founders of the unwinding law, and he has regretted it ever since.
Q 18Runaway teenagers in Unwind are safe from being unwound once they reach which birthday?
Their eighteenth
Their eighteenth birthday ends the danger, which is why the Graveyard's rules warn residents that at that age they cease to be the Admiral's concern.
Q 19How does Neal Shusterman tell the story of Unwind across its many short chapters?
From shifting points of view
From shifting points of view, the chapters move between the three runaways and even passing figures such as a police officer and a young mother.
Q 20Unwind author Neal Shusterman also wrote episodes of which 1990s children's horror TV series?
Goosebumps
Goosebumps is one of several screen credits for the novelist, who also wrote for Animorphs and scripted the Disney Channel movie Pixel Perfect.
Q 24What are the five trusted teenagers who help the Admiral run the Graveyard in Unwind called?
The Goldens
The Goldens are all found dead midway through the story, and the discovery of their desert graves turns the camp against its protector.
Q 25Why is Roland unwound ahead of Connor Lassiter at the harvest camp in Unwind?
His rare blood type
His rare blood type puts him in demand, a bitter twist for the boy who handed his companions to the police and was arrested with them.
Q 26Besides a new arm, which body part does Connor Lassiter have replaced after the explosion in Unwind?
An eye
An eye is replaced along with the limb, and neither was his choice: both operations are done without his consent, under a dead man's name.
Q 27Which job does Risa Ward earn at the Graveyard in Unwind after first being put on dishwashing duty?
Medic
Medic was not the first plan: with no instrument for her to play, the leaders had made her a dishwasher until she treated a boy's bloody nose.
Q 28What nickname do harvest camp teenagers in Unwind give the clinic where unwinding is carried out?
The Chop Shop
The Chop Shop is soundproofed, and a band of residents is made to play music on its roof as each teenager is walked inside.
Q 29What is the name of the harvest camp in Unwind where Connor and Risa are sent to be unwound?
Happy Jack
Happy Jack sits among pine forest, where the staff wear Hawaiian shirts and a tall flowering hedge hides the barbed wire.
Q 30Which compulsion plagues CyFi in Unwind because part of his brain came from an unwound boy?
Shoplifting
Shoplifting was the donor's habit, and the urge leads CyFi to a suitcase of stolen jewelry the boy had buried in his family's backyard.