Munsch On These Great Reads Trivia Quiz

Answer: She said she was going to shave her head.

Stephanie went to school one day with a normal ponytail coming out the back of her head, and even though everyone at school said it was ugly, the next day all the girls came to school with ponytails. Stephanie tried a few more hairstyles, such as ponytails right on top of her head and in front of her face, and eventually everyone, including the boys and the teachers, were coming to school with the same styles. Fed up, Stephanie announced at school that she would shave her head.

The next day, everyone else at school had shaved their heads... and Stephanie showed up with a normal ponytail coming out the back of her head.

Answer: Neighbour

At the beginning of the book, simply titled "Mortimer", Mortimer's mother was the first one to take him upstairs to bed and tell him to be quiet, and Mortimer said that he would be. As soon as his mother got back downstairs, he started yelling, "Clang clang, rattle bing bang, gonna make my noise all day. Clang, clang, rattle bing bang, gonna make my noise all day!" His father, hearing this, went upstairs to tell him to be quiet, but of course, as soon as he got back downstairs, it started again. Next, his 17 brothers and sisters went up the stairs and told Mortimer to be quiet, but the noise started up again.

The family phoned the police, and two policemen came and went through the routine of telling Mortimer to be quiet. When that didn't work, they were out of ideas.

They spent so long figuring out who should go upstairs next that Mortimer fell asleep waiting.

Answer: Yes

After Tyya's father got mad that Tyya kept picking out junk food for him to buy at the grocery store (she wanted him to buy "something good"), he ordered her to stand perfectly still and not move again. She stayed so still that a store clerk thought she was a doll and put a $29.95 price sticker on Tyya and put her on a shelf.

A couple of customers tried to buy Tyya, but ran away when they found she was a real girl. Tyya's father came to find her and they went to the checkout. The cashier told Tyya's father he'd had have to pay for Tyya, since she had a price sticker on her. Tyya's father argued with the cashier, but Tyya then asked, "Daddy, don't you think I'm worth $29.95?" Her father agreed that she was, and paid for her. Tyya was pleased that her father finally bought "something good".

Answer: My baby you'll be

This story was all about the never-ending love a parent has for their children. It began with a mother singing the quoted lines to her newborn baby, and then followed the mother still singing the lines to her child, whether he was a baby, a rambunctious toddler, a strange teenager or a grown man; she loved him no matter how crazy he drove her. At the end of the book, the grown son sang the song to his mother, and his own newborn daughter.

The book started as a short song, the song that is repeated throughout the book, that Robert Munsch wrote when after his wife gave birth to two stillborn children.

Answer: Super-indelible-never-comes-off-till-you're-dead markers

Brigid loved markers and drawing pictures with them. She drew with felt markers, with markers that washed off, and with markers that smelled good. Then, she got the super-indelible-never-comes-off-till-you're-dead markers. She drew lots of pictures with them, and was very satisfied with her markers.

Then, she drew on herself. Not just a little bit, but all over herself. She got carried away and then realized - the marker would never come off till she's dead! When she managed to get it washed off - she was invisible! She solved the problem by colouring herself with a people-coloured marker.

Answer: False

"The Paper Bag Princess" was the complete opposite of the typical prince and princess story. Its main character was Princess Elizabeth, who was supposed to marry Prince Ronald, but when the dragon came and ruined their village, he took Ronald away. Elizabeth, who only had a paper bag to wear after all her clothes were destroyed, set out to save Ronald from the dragon. Elizabeth outsmarted the dragon and rescued Ronald, but Ronald was unhappy with how Elizabeth looked in her paper bag and said he didn't want her until she looked like a princess again. Elizabeth cut him loose and lived happily ever after without him.

Answer: A subway train

In this story, Jonathan's mom went out shopping and asked him to not to make a mess. While she was gone, Jonathan heard a sound behind the wall and then suddenly a subway train pulled up and every got off and came into the apartment! They made a huge mess. Jonathan's mother came back, saw the mess and got upset, and then went back out.

While she was out, Jonathan cleaned up the mess, and then heard the sound again. The subway train pulled up again, everyone got off, came in and made another big mess! Jonathan's mother came home again and started getting mad about the mess, but then they both heard the sound and she saw the subway train and all the people for herself. Jonathan had to go to city hall to get the subway to stop coming to their apartment.

Answer: Sleeping in odd places

Jason kept being awoken by noises while he was sleeping soundly in bed. Whenever he went to inspect the noises, he would find his father sleeping somewhere odd, such as on top of the fridge, in the bathtub and in the garage on top of the car. One time when Jason went looking for where his father was sleeping, he noticed that the front door was open and discovered that his father must have sleepwalked outside on a really, really cold night. Jason bundled up and went out to find his father.

He found him, frozen like a popsicle! Jason dragged his father inside and defrosted him in a hot bath.

Answer: Arizona

Thomas hated his ugly brown snowsuit and really didn't want to wear it. When his parents told him to put his snowsuit on, he would scream "Nooooo!" and carry on and have a fight with his parents. He also did this at school, when his teacher and the principal tried to get him into his snowsuit. Again, it turned into a big fight. Somehow the fight ended up with both Thomas and the principal in their underwear! This drove the principal so crazy that retired and moved to Arizona, where they don't need snowsuits.

Answer: A truck driver

In the story, a young girl named Robin was playing in a sandbox when she heard a strange noise and found a baby in a hole. She knew she couldn't keep the baby, so she went around asking people if they wanted the baby. It seemed that no one was able to take care of the baby, until, at the end of the book, a truck driver decided to take the baby home and take care of it.

Adoption is really important to Robert Munsch and his family, as he and his wife adopted all three of their kids. Adoption is a subtle theme in several of Munsch's books (such as when, in the illustrations, the children look very different from the parents), but it is a much more overt theme in "Murmel, Murmel, Murmel". Munsch has said that the truck driver character was based on himself.