Q 01/05

In L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, what color are Dorothy's magic shoes, which MGM's 1939 film made ruby?

A) Emerald

B) Silver

C) Gold

D) Diamond

Answer · why

B) Silver

Silver shoes carry Dorothy home in Baum's book. The studio turned them red to show off the three-strip Technicolor process on screen.

Q 02/05

In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which sweet does the White Witch use to tempt Edmund Pevensie?

A) Turkish delight

B) Peppermint creams

C) Treacle fudge

D) Toffee apples

Answer · why

A) Turkish delight

Turkish delight is the enchanted treat that turns Edmund against his brother and sisters, along with the Witch's promise to make him a prince.

Q 03/05

Which British publisher agreed to print the first Harry Potter novel after twelve other houses had rejected it?

A) Penguin

B) HarperCollins

C) Bloomsbury

D) Walker Books

Answer · why

C) Bloomsbury

Bloomsbury took the gamble after its chief executive's eight-year-old daughter read the opening chapter and gave it a glowing verdict.

Q 04/05

In Tolkien's The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins trades riddles in the dark beneath the Misty Mountains with which creature?

A) Smaug

B) Beorn

C) Shelob

D) Gollum

Answer · why

D) Gollum

Gollum loses the riddle game to Bilbo. In the first edition he meant to hand over his ring as the prize, a scene Tolkien later rewrote.

Q 05/05

In Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson novels, the dyslexic schoolboy Percy learns he is the son of which Greek god?

A) Zeus

B) Poseidon

C) Dionysus

D) Hades

Answer · why

B) Poseidon

Poseidon, god of the sea, is Percy's father. Riordan began inventing the stories for his own son, who had been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia.