Trivia: Magic Tree House Thanksgiving on Thursday

Yes, it's true that Thanksgiving is this Thursday — but Thanksgiving on Thursday is ALSO the title of one of the Magic Tree House books by Mary Pope Osborne! (And yes, I HAVE been waiting all year to say that. And no, I DON'T have a life, thanks for pointing that out . . . )

If you're not familiar with the Magic Tree House series, then before I get to the trivia question, I should tell you a little bit about the books: They're about a tree house. It's magic. Got it?

Just kidding! Here are the details: Annie and Jack are a brother and sister who discover that the books in their tree house transport them through time and space. They visit lots of different historical destinations, from Ancient Eygpt to the Ice Age to the Civil War. And — surprise, surprise — in Thanksgiving on Thursday, they travel to Plymouth, Massachusetts during the time of the pilgrims.

So, here's my question for those of you who are familiar with the book: Jack and Annie try to help out with the turkey for the first Thanksgiving, but something goes wrong. What happens?

Leave a comment with your guess, and I'll be back next Tuesday to let you know the answer. In the meantime, have a very happy Thanksgiving! Or as your dinner would say, "Gobble gobble!"

— Karen, STACKS Staffer

Trivia Tuesday Answer: Coraline

Congratulations Madison! You were the first person to get the answer to the Coraline trivia question right. If you’re just joining now, the question was:

In what toy did the Other Mother hide the souls of the three children in the closet?

In the book Coraline, Coraline goes through a mysterious door in her dreary new flat (flat is British for apartment) to a world that is almost exactly like her regular world, just much, much better. In this Other World, she has an Other Mother, who seems much better than her real mother at first. (She cooks much better for one thing!)

But when Coraline doesn’t do exactly what the Other Mother wants, the Other Mother’s other side starts showing. She punishes Coraline by locking her in the closet, where Coraline meets three other children who have also been lured into the Other World. They tell Coraline the truth about the Other Mother — that she just wants to steal Coraline’s soul! That’s what she did to the three of them. Which leads us to the trivia question:

The Other Mother hid the three children’s souls in marbles.

Can Coraline escape the Other Mother’s grasp? You’ll have to read the book to find out!

—Carly H., STACKS Staffer

Guess the Character Answers

Last week I posted a trivia question to see if you could guess some famous children's book characters. How'd you do?

1. He must not be named.

Voldemort, from the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
First guessed by Dewdrop208

2. He speaks for the trees.

The Lorax, from The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
First guessed by 10 stars

3. She's a stupid lamb.

Bella, from the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer (for ages 12 and up)
First guessed by kelsey

4. He's a palindrome with a no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather.

Stanley Yelnats, from Holes by Louis Sachar
First guessed by 10 stars

5. She goes blind in book five.

Mary Ingalls, from the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
First guessed by Dewdrop208

6. He's late (for a very important date).

The White Rabbit, from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll
First guessed by sockmonkey98

7. She's on fire. (Literally)

Katniss, from The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins (for ages 12 and up)
First guessed by Annie

8. She's a blondwad.

Angeline, from the Dear Dumb Diary series by Jim Benton
First guessed by Kaitlyn

9. He's an unfortunate middle child.

Klaus Baudelaire, from A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
First guessed by sockmonkey98

10. She teaches on the 19th story.

Miss Zarves, from Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar
First guessed by Kaitlyn

I also want to give a shout out to Camilla who was the first person to get them all right.

And, I can't end this post without giving a shout-out to Kelsey, who answered my challenge with a challenge of her own. She wanted to see if I could guess the following characters:

1. She's a unique vampyre.

2. He saves the world more than once in N.Y.C.

3. She and her brother accept a fatal challenge

4. He writes about a mystery that he and a friend try to solve.

5. Love really "bites" for him.

I think I know numbers 2, 3, and 4, but I'm not sure. And I'm totally lost on 1 and 5. So I'm turning it around to you guys to see what you think. Anyone know the answers to Kelsey's trivia? Leave your answers in the comments. Kelsey, if you're out there chime in with the correct answers

— Carly H., STACKS Staffer

Trivia Tuesday: Coraline

Between the movie coverage and the love this book gets from Alex Wolff of Nickelodeon's Naked Brothers Band, you might have a good case in accusing us of being obsessed with the book Coraline by Neil Gaiman.

But, it's not just us. The Coraline movie was a smash hit at the box office. And Neil Gaiman was honored by the Association for Library Service to Children with the 2009 Newbery Medal for his book The Graveyard Book.

So, I'm willing to bet there are some other Coraline fans out there reading this. For all those fans, my trivia question for you is:

In what toy did the Other Mother hide the souls of the three children in the closet?

Happy Guessing! Next week I'll be back with the answer.

—Carly H., STACKS Staffer

Guess the Character

It's as easy as it sounds. I describe 10 famous* characters from different books. You leave a comment saying who they are. Next week I post the answers and congratulate the winners. Ready, set, go . . .

1. He must not be named.
2. He speaks for the trees.
3. She's a stupid lamb.
4. He's a palindrome** with a no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather.
5. She goes blind in book five.
6. He's late (for a very important date).
7. She on fire. (Literally)
8. She's a blondwad.
9. He's an unfortunate middle child.
10. She teaches on the 19th story.

Happy Guessing!

—Carly H., STACKS Staffer

*Criteria for being famous: They're in a book I know and/or like.

**A palindrome means his name is spelled the same if you read it forwards or backwards.

Tuesday Trivia Answer: Farmer Boy

Last week, I asked a trivia question about Farmer Boy, the third book in Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series. This is the only book in the series that doesn’t follow Laura and her sisters. Instead, it's about Laura’s future husband, Almanzo, growing up on a farm in New York. In the book, Almanzo is busy on the farm, helping with things like harvesting wheat, taking care of the animals, shearing sheep, and collecting maple syrup from maple trees. (And you just thought it came in a jar!) But more than anything, Almanzo wants a colt. So my question to you was:

What is the name of the colt that Almanzo gets at the end of the book?

And the answer is Starlight.

Congratulations to LynnTAB for being the first person to get it right!

—Carly H., STACKS Staffer

Trivia Tuesday: Farmer Boy

I don't think it would come as a shock to any Ink Splot 26 readers that I love the Little House series. I list it as one of my favorite books and way back when, I wrote a blog entry asking the character/author Laura Ingalls Wilder three questions (three questions that will never be answered that is, because she lived from 1867 to 1957).

And, you should know I loved horses growing up because of my FIVE listing of the greatest horse books of all time (IMHO*).

Which is all just a long way of saying that my 4^th-grade self would have been all over this week’s trivia question on Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder:

What is the name of the colt that Almanzo gets at the end of the book?

Happy guessing! Check back next Tuesday for the answer.

—Carly H., STACKS Staffer

*IMHO = In My Humble Opinion

Trivia Tuesday Answer: Pet Trouble

Last week I asked two trivia questions about the series Pet Trouble by Tui T. Sutherland. And no one's commented with the right answer yet :(

So for all of you who were stumped, here are the questions and answers:

1. In the first Pet Trouble book, Runaway Retriever, Parker gets Merlin from his sister who is going away to college, because she's afraid that Parker and their dad will be lonely without her. But what's her name?

ANSWER: Camellia

2. In the second Pet Trouble book, Loudest Beagle on the Block, Ella is preparing two songs to play in the school talent show. But her new beagle, Trumpet, won't stop barking long enough for her to practice them. What instrument does Ella play?

ANSWER: Piano

If you want to get the full stories behind these trivia questions, make sure to read Runaway Retriever and Loudest Beagle on the Block. And, if you've already zoomed through these two, books three and four, Mud-Puddle Poodle and Bulldog Won't Budge, are waiting for you!

—Carly H., STACKS Staffer

Trivia Answer: Guess the Book

Two weeks ago, I put up a second Guess the Book trivia question. And I have a second round of virtual cookies for those of you who got the answers right (and there were a lot of you). But no one got (or bothered to mention) [Edited to add: Oops! Rachel got this right. I just missed it in the comments before.] what all of these books have in common! These are all the second books in their series!

In case you need a reminder, here's what you were guessing:

And here are the answers (and shout-outs to the first person to get each book right!).

#1

Congrats Crystal!

#2

Congrats to Crystal again!

#3

Way to go Rachel!

#4

Third time's a charm: Congrats to Crystal once more.

#5

Awesome job, Dramateller!

Until next time, happy reading!

— Carly H., STACKS Staffer

Cookie photo credit: WITTY234/Shutterstock

Trivia Tuesday: Pet Trouble

It's time to put your money where your mouth is!

You've read author Tui T. Sutherland's Ink Splot 26 blog posts and chatted with her this summer on the Pet Trouble message board. But how many of you have read her new series Pet Trouble? I have two questions today to see if you're a Pet Trouble wiz.

1. In the first Pet Trouble book, Runaway Retriever, Parker gets Merlin from his sister who is going away to college, because she's afraid that Parker and their dad will be lonely without her. But what's her name?

2. In the second Pet Trouble book, Loudest Beagle on the Block, Ella is preparing two songs to play in the school talent show. But her new beagle, Trumpet, won't stop barking long enough for her to practice them. What instrument does Ella play?

Leave your answer in the comments and I'll be back next week to let you know the answers.

—Carly H., STACKS Staffer

Trivia Tuesday Answers: What's that song?

Last week I challenged your FM know-how. I gave you the lyrics to songs that just kept playing over the last year. Congratulations to everyone know knew some of the answers! Bellow are shout-outs to the first person to get each song

For those of you who got stumped, here are the answers:

1. I hopped off the plane at LAX
   With a dream and my cardigan
   
   Miley Cyrus- Party in the U.S.A.
   Congrats to: bethany
   
   
2. Just a small town girl, livin' in a lonely world
   She took the midnight train goin' anywhere
   
   Journey- Don't Stop Believin'
   WooHoo!: confusedandbored
   
   
3. Guess this means you're sorry
   You're standing at my door
   Guess this means you take back
   All you said before
   
   Kelly Clarkson- My Life Would Suck Without You
   Way to go: TheInky3
   
   
4. I make the most of all this stress
   I try to live without regrets
   But I'm about to break a sweat I'm freaking out
   
   Jonas Brothers- Paranoid
   Yay!: TheInky3
   
   
5. She was more like a beauty queen from a movie scene
   I said don't mind, but what do you mean I am the one
   
   Michael Jackson- Billie Jean
   Big up to: iluvdavidcook
   
   
6. Tonight's the night
   Let's live it up
   I got my money
   Let's spend it up
   
   Black Eyed Peas- I Got a Feeling
   Awesome guessing!: iluvdavidcook
   
   
7. You're on the phone with your girlfriend, she's upset
   She's going off about something that you said
   She doesn't get your humor like I do
   
   Taylor Swift- You Belong With Me
   Congrats x2: bethany
   
   
8. Do you know what's worth fighting for?
   When it's not worth dying for?
   Does it take your breath away
   And you feel yourself suffocating?
   
   Green Day- 21 Guns
   Good Job: TheInky3
   
   
9. All around me are familiar faces
   Worn out places, worn out faces
   
   Mad World originally by Tears for Fears, covered by Gary Jules, but you probably know it from when Adam Lambert sang it on American Idol
   A+: iluvdavidcook
   
   
10. Don't try to explain your mind
    I know what's happening here
    One minute it's love
    
    Jordin Sparks- Battlefield
    You've got it!: dramateller

Keep rocking and reading!

—Carly H., STACKS Staffer

Trivia Tuesday: What's that song?

A long, long time ago (but sadly not in a galaxy far, far away), I posted a trivia entry seeing if you could identify songs from their opening lines. There's been a whole year of new songs (and old songs suddenly popular again) to dance, boogie, head-bang, and party to since then. So it's time for another one—

Can you ID these songs (title and artist) by their opening lyrics?

1. I hopped off the plane at LAX
   With a dream and my cardigan
   
   
2. Just a small town girl, livin' in a lonely world
   She took the midnight train goin' anywhere
   
   
3. Guess this means you're sorry
   You're standing at my door
   Guess this means you take back
   All you said before
   
   
4. I make the most of all this stress
   I try to live without regrets
   But I'm about to break a sweat I'm freaking out
   
   
5. She was more like a beauty queen from a movie scene
   I said don't mind, but what do you mean I am the one
   
   
6. Tonight's the night
   Let's live it up
   I got my money
   Let's spend it up
   
   
7. You're on the phone with your girlfriend, she's upset
   She's going off about something that you said
   She doesn't get your humor like I do
   
   
8. Do you know what's worth fighting for?
   When it's not worth dying for?
   Does it take your breath away
   And you feel yourself suffocating?
   
   
9. All around me are familiar faces
   Worn out places, worn out faces
   
   
10. Don't try to explain your mind
    I know what's happening here
    One minute it's love

Leave your guesses in the comments! I'll be back next week with the answers.

Rock on!

—Carly H., STACKS Staffer