'The Cricket Term' by Antonia Forest Quiz

Answer: Cooking

Nicola goes to Karen's house to drop her stepchildren's laundry off, and finds her and Rose making a baked apple pudding. Although they do not do any wallpapering, Karen does talk about stripping the wallpaper down, and Nicola suggests collecting and framing the old pieces.

Karen's stepchildren first appeared in 'The Ready-Made Family'. Their father, Edwin, is an academic.

Answer: An actor ('player')

Like Lawrie, Nicholas is a budding actor (or 'player'), and like Nicola, he loves ships, and even runs away to sea. On reading the extract from Geoffrey's diary, Nicola discovers that Nicholas was presumed dead for six years, only to return home to announce that he had been sailing on the Ark Royal.

Nicholas Marlow's adventures are further detailed in 'The Player's Boy' and 'The Players and the Rebels'.

Answer: Caliban

Lawrie is desperate to play Caliban, and is not pleased to find out that she will be auditioning for Ariel instead. Miss Kempe, the drama teacher, asks Nicola to act as Lawrie's double during the play and sing Ariel's songs from behind a rock. Of the twins' friends, Tim Keith wants to work on scenery and costume design, and Esther Frewen fails her audition due to nerves. Ginty Marlow also auditions for the play, but doesn't get the part and decides to focus on the swimming gala instead.

Answer: Her mother cannot afford the school fees anymore and wants to take her out of school

As the fees for Kingscote have been raised, Mrs Marlow cannot afford the fees to keep four daughters there, and wants one of the girls to drop out. As Ann and Ginty are sitting exams, and Mrs Marlow worries that Lawrie will be immature and make a fuss if she is asked to leave Kingscote, she asks Nicola in her letter to leave instead and attend a local school.

Her reasoning is that Nicola will be sensible and not make a fuss. In fact, Nicola is unhappy about the news, and she ends up sitting on the school roof during lesson time and having a talk with Janice Scott, an older friend.

Answer: 'The Mask of Apollo'

'The Mask of Apollo' is a historical novel set during the Peloponnesian War in ancient Greece. It is on the Limited list, meaning that only girls of a certain age are allowed to read it (which Nicola thinks is due to the fact that the main character is gay). Nicola tries to get Ann to sneak the book into Kingscote for her, but conscientious Ann refuses.

Unfortunately, Nicola is found out when the school receives an overdue notice for the book. Miss Cromwell, her form teacher, gives her a list of literary classics to read as punishment. To Nicola's disgust, one of the authors on the list is Charles Dickens, whose books she dislikes.

Answer: A four-leafed clover

Ginty finds a four-leafed clover, and her friend Monica makes it into a lucky charm by enclosing it between two pieces of glass. She gives Nicola the charm to hold for her during the swimming gala. It pays off, as Ginty is awarded the highest individual number of points for diving, and the Kingscote swimming team wins.

Unfortunately, in her excitement, Nicola holds the charm a bit too hard and it breaks, cutting her hand open. She has to go to hospital to have the wound stitched up, and is not allowed to play any sport until it has healed.

Answer: Miranda West

Still fed up at having to play Ariel, Lawrie messes around during rehearsals and makes a point of acting her version of Caliban. Miss Kempe finally loses her patience and sends her out. Miranda West, the understudy for Ariel, is chosen as her replacement, and proves to be a fantastic Ariel. Lawrie tells Miss Kempe after rehearsal that she wants Miranda to have her part. Lawrie leaving the play means that Nicola can no longer sing Ariel's songs, though Nicola does not mind about not being able to participate.

Answer: Marie Dobson

Marie Dobson is off sick when term begins, so Lawrie has her desk. While Nicola is in town choosing a book as her award for winning the Form Prize, Miss Cartwright, her old form teacher, tells her that Marie has died. Marie had had a heart problem for some time, and one day she had got up to turn on the TV and her heart had stopped.

When the form find out, they want to send a condolence card to Marie's family. Tim Keith is reluctant to sign it as she never liked Marie and feels it would be hypocritical, but gives up and grudgingly signs the card anyway.

Answer: No

Nicola plans to work towards getting the Prosser Scholarship so that she can stay on at Kingscote and her mother will not have to pay her fees. However, at the prizegiving assembly, the headmistress announces that the Prosser will in fact be given to Lawrie, for unselfishly giving up her part in 'The Tempest'.

Although Nicola is relieved that she is staying on after all, as her mother will only be paying fees for three of her daughters, Lawrie is ungrateful about being given the scholarship and says she would rather have been Caliban instead.

Answer: Sixth Form

Throughout the book, Nicola's old enemy, Lois Sanger (who Marlow fans might remember from 'Autumn Term', and who has been promoted to Games Prefect), makes trouble for her. She forbids Nicola's form team to use the main cricket pitches, repeatedly crossing Nicola's name off the practice list, and as a result, the Lower Fourth team has to practice behind the pavilion. Nicola refuses to let Lois get the better of her and makes her fellow cricketers get up early in order to practice. Lois tries to complain to Miss Craven, the games mistress, about this, but Miss Craven ignores her and also insists that the Lower Fourth be allowed to use the practice pitches. Janice Scott also points out that Lois has, rather conveniently, been coaching the teams drawn against the Lower Fourth team.

Lois and Nicola come face-to-face when their respective forms reach the Cricket Cup final. Despite the Sixth Form's best efforts, and Lois urging her team mates on, the Lower Fourth win. Lois takes the loss very badly, to the bemusement of the rest of the Sixth Form.