Lego Blockbuster Movie Poster Quiz

The Classic Novel Word Cloud Quiz I posted here last month proved popular, so here's another picture quiz I originally created as a round for a lockdown Zoom quiz.

This one combines two of my favourite things: Lego and cinema! I've taken ten of Empire Magazine's 50 Best Movie Posters Ever and used a little Photoshop magic to render them in Lego blocks. How many of them can you identify? Tip: If you're struggling to recognise any of them, try sitting back and squinting at the screen.

Click on each image to reveal the answer

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How did you do?

10	Oscar-winner: Perfect, with no piece out of place!
7–9	Blockbuster: A solidly-constructed performance.
4–6	Straight to DVD: Not bad, but you left some bits in the box.
1–3	Outright Flop: You really went to pieces.

Classic Novel Word Cloud Quiz

Since the first week of lockdown, my family have been getting together with a group of college friends for a weekly Zoom quiz. Each quiz is usually made up of several themed rounds and after thirteen weeks of quizzing, themes are getting increasingly inventive. This week I prepared a round of word clouds created from classic novels, which I thought I'd share here too.

Each of the word clouds below was generated from the complete text of a classic novel. The more often the word appears in the novel, the bigger the word appears in the cloud. Common words (such as "the", "a" "and") are excluded. The shape of each cloud is also a clue to the novel. The shapes make guessing the novel relatively easy, so to claim a point, you must be able to name the novel's author as well – and no half points for getting one but not the other!

The novels were all taken from Project Gutenberg's top 20 most downloaded ebooks for the last 30 days (at the time of compiling) and the word clouds were generated using the word cloud creator at wordart.com

Click on each image to reveal the answer

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How did you do?

10	On cloud nine: Your knowledge of classic literature is exemplary.
7–9	Cloud-burster: You know your Stevenson from your Shelley.
4–6	Cloudy with sunny spells: Could do better, but not too shabby.
1–3	Under a cloud: You need to brush up on your classics.

Gift-Wrapped Characters Christmas Quiz

This post was originally published on Picture Book Den, a blog about picture books by picture book authors and illustrators.

When I was a child, part of the excitement of the run-up to Christmas was shaking, squeezing and even sniffing the gift-wrapped presents beneath our Christmas tree in an attempt to deduce what was inside. For this year's Christmas quiz, I've gift-wrapped 10 picture book characters. Since shaking, squeezing and sniffing are not options, you'll have to work out who they are from their outlines alone. How many can you identify?

Click on each image to reveal the answer

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How did you do?

10	All present and correct: Your picture book character recognition skills are exemplary!
7–9	Gifted: You know your Seuss from your Scheffler.
4–6	Some contents missing: Not bad, but perhaps you should add a few picture book classics to your Christmas list.
1–3	A bad wrap: You need to brush up on your picture book knowledge.

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My delightfully dark Christmas picture book The Santa Trap, illustrated by Poly Bernatene, is available in a UK paperback print-on-demand edition from Hatchling Books and a US Hardback edition from Peachtree Publishers.

Missing Vowels Christmas Picture Book Puzzler

This post was originally published on Picture Book Den, a blog about picture books by picture book authors and illustrators.

Following on from previous Christmas Quizzes in 2015 and 2016, here's another set of picture book puzzles for you to solve. This year I've taken my inspiration from the "Missing Vowels" round of BBC quiz show Only Connect. For those unfamiliar with the show, I've taken the titles of ten classic picture books, removed all of the vowels and punctuation marks and changed the spaces between the words. For example, THE GRUFFALO might be changed into THG RF FL.

How many ‘disemvowelled’ book titles can you recognise? Click on each image to reveal the answer. To make things more Christmassy – there's a festive theme to the even-numbered titles.

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How did you do?

10	O for outstanding: Your knowledge of picture book titles is exemplary!
7–9	A for advanced: A good effort. You know your Child from your Chichester Clark.
4–6	I for intermediate: Not bad, but perhaps you should add a few picture book classics to your Christmas list.
1–3	U for ungraded: A disappointingly Gruffa-low score. You need to brush up on your picture book knowledge.

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My sparkling seasonal story Diamond in the Snow, illustrated by Vanessa Cabban, has just been re-published in a new edition from Walker Books.

Eyes-Only Advent Picture Book Quiz

This post was originally published on Picture Book Den, a blog about picture books by picture book authors and illustrators.

December is here again! So, following on from last year's quiz I thought I'd test your picture book knowledge with another Advent-calendar-like picture book challenge.

When I first started out in children's books, I was illustrating as well as writing. One of the pieces of advice my first agent, Gina Pollinger, gave me at our very first meeting was to study the work of successful illustrators and – in particular – how they drew their characters' eyes. "It's important to get the eyes right," she told me, "if you don't, the character won't come alive and children will not believe in them." Although I never really made it as an illustrator, this is still an excellent piece of advice to any budding picture book illustrator.

So, for this year's quiz, how many of these classic picture book characters can you recognise from the eyes peeping out from the Christmas tree foliage below? Click on each image to reveal the answer. To make things a little more festive – there's a common theme to the even-numbered images.

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How did you do?

10/10	Eagle-eyed: Brilliant! You have 20/20 picture book vision.
7-9/10	An attentive pupil: A good effort. You know your Blake from your Briggs.
4-6/10	Not bad looking: But perhaps you should add some new reading glasses to your Christmas list.
1-3/10	Blinking awful: Are you sure you had your own eyes open?

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Follow the fiendishly funny exploits of evil-eyed über-brat Bradley Bartleby in my Christmas picture book, The Santa Trap, illustrated by Poly Bernatene and published by Macmillan Children's Books.