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Quiz about Swallowdale by Arthur Ransome

"Swallowdale" by Arthur Ransome Quiz

"Swallowdale" is Arthur Ransome's second children's book and it continues the adventures of the "Swallows and Amazons" back at the lake once more and plunged literally into disaster.

A multiple-choice quiz by Philian. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
Philian

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
132,645

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
15

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
12 / 15

Plays
376

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 15

1. What did the Amazons (Nancy and Peggy) want Titty to remember to bring to them? Hint

the story that she wrote about last summer's adventures

a new flag that she had made for the houseboat

a new flag that she had made for the Amazon

the green feathers from the parrot so they can make more arrows

NEXT>

Question 2 of 15

2. What promise had John made to his mother that year? Hint

that he would make sure they all went to bed early

that there would be no more night sailing

that he would make sure Roger washed behind his ears

that he would always be polite to the grown-ups that they met

NEXT>

Question 3 of 15

3. What does Nancy try to dream of every night? Hint

a new torture for the Great Aunt to suffer

a way of keeping Uncle Jim at home that summer

a way of making her mother more happy

a way of getting to see the Swallows more often

NEXT>

Question 4 of 15

4. Who are the two children that discover "Swallowdale", which is for them "the most secret valley in the world"? Hint

John and Roger

John and Susan

Nancy and Peggy

Titty and Roger

NEXT>

Question 5 of 15

5. Why does Swallow run on to Pike Rock? Hint

Pike Rock was underwater due to heavy rain.

John wasn't really looking where he was going.

John failed to reef the sail and the strong wind whirled the boat round.

Roger moved suddenly in the boat and knocked the tiller.

NEXT>

Question 6 of 15

6. What article does Titty rescue from the Swallow as she swims her way ashore? Hint

the knapsack with the food

the kettle

the frying pan

the telescope

NEXT>

Question 7 of 15

7. What is old Mr. Swainson's favourite activity? Hint

singing different songs from his youth

carving figures out of wood

looking after the chickens in the farmyard

fishing by the side of the lake

NEXT>

Question 8 of 15

8. When they saw a certain person in the boat Susan and Titty knew that their mother was going to let them stay in a camp after the shipwreck. Which person was this? Hint

Their baby sister, Bridget.

Mrs. Blackett

Captain Flint

Mrs. Dixon

NEXT>

Question 9 of 15

9. What was the "one bad thing" that Susan found about the camp in Swallowdale? Hint

The camp was too exposed to the wind.

The ground was too stony for tent pegs.

There was no flat ground that would be safe from flooding

They had to fetch wood all the time for camp fires.

NEXT>

Question 10 of 15

10. Which part of Swallow is John going to be working on each day at Horseshoe Cove? Hint

the centre-board casing

the boom

the tiller

the mast

NEXT>

Question 11 of 15

11. Captain Flint remembers the cave in Swallowdale from many years ago. Titty has decided to call it "Peter Duck's Cave". What did Captain Flint use to call it? Hint

Robinson Crusoe's Cave

Nelson's Cave

Long John Silver's Cave

Ben Gunn's Cave

NEXT>

Question 12 of 15

12. What was Titty's "holiday task" that had been set by her school? Hint

She had to draw a map of the Lake District.

She had to make a wildflower collection.

She had to learn French verbs.

She had to keep a bird-watching diary.

NEXT>

Question 13 of 15

13. What was the "Knickerbocker-breaker"? Hint

A dry stone wall that was very difficult to climb over.

A slippery rock down which Roger would regularly slide.

A set of stepping stones in the river.

A strand of barbed-wire that constantly snagged them.

NEXT>

Question 14 of 15

14. As Susan asks in the story, "Who is Bob Blackett"? Hint

Nancy and Peggy's uncle

Nancy and Peggy's father

Nancy and Peggy's cousin

Nancy and Peggy's brother

NEXT>

Question 15 of 15

15. How does Titty get back to the road near Swainson's Farm on the evening of the day on which Roger hurts his leg? Hint

She sails down the lake in Amazon.

She rides on a big log being towed by three horses.

Captain Flint drives her home in Rattletrap.

She sails down the lake in Swallow.

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. What did the Amazons (Nancy and Peggy) want Titty to remember to bring to them?

Answer: the green feathers from the parrot so they can make more arrows

Titty's parrot used to live on the houseboat with Nancy and Peggy's Uncle Jim (or Captain Flint). Captain Flint gave the green parrot to Titty because she had found his missing manuscript. Polly always gets angry when she sees some of her own feathers.

2. What promise had John made to his mother that year?

Answer: that there would be no more night sailing

The previous summer John had sailed the Swallow on the lake in the middle of the night and had nearly got into a dangerous situation. Most of the time Mrs. Walker trusts her family to use their common sense. They are always polite because that is the way they have been brought up.

3. What does Nancy try to dream of every night?

Answer: a new torture for the Great Aunt to suffer

The Great Aunt is such an imperious person that Nancy tries to devise ways of making her suffer for the way in which she is spoiling their holiday. None of these dreams are realistic but they satisfy Nancy's pirate sense of honour. "We'd feed her to the sharks.We'd leave her on a rock to be eaten by land crabs. We'd hang her in a tree for crows."

4. Who are the two children that discover "Swallowdale", which is for them "the most secret valley in the world"?

Answer: Titty and Roger

Whilst John and Susan and Nancy and Peggy talk over what has happened at their schools during term time Titty and Roger leave the lakeside at Horsehoe Cove and go exploring up the valley and they pass under the road bridge and climb higher up the mountainside. It is then that they find the secret valley.

5. Why does Swallow run on to Pike Rock?

Answer: John failed to reef the sail and the strong wind whirled the boat round.

It was John who had failed to reduce the area of sail by reefing who was really responsible for the shipwreck. Captain Flint comforts him by saying that everybody is a "duffer" sometimes in their life but you don't always get caught out in your mistakes as poor John has been. "Worrying never made a sailor."

6. What article does Titty rescue from the Swallow as she swims her way ashore?

Answer: the telescope

As the Swallow slips below the surface each of the Walker children makes their way ashore. Roger gets towed the final few yards by Nancy and Peggy who have fetched a rope. John has spent his time throwing out the anchor so he can find it later and try to tow the sunken dinghy into shallower water.

7. What is old Mr. Swainson's favourite activity?

Answer: singing different songs from his youth

Roger is the child who gets on best with Mr.Swainson because he likes to go along to the farm and join in with his songs.

8. When they saw a certain person in the boat Susan and Titty knew that their mother was going to let them stay in a camp after the shipwreck. Which person was this?

Answer: Their baby sister, Bridget.

John, Susan and Titty knew that their mother wouldn't have brought Bridget with her if she was going to order them all to pack up their tents to go home.

9. What was the "one bad thing" that Susan found about the camp in Swallowdale?

Answer: They had to fetch wood all the time for camp fires.

The Swallows had to introduce a rule that whenever they went down to Swainson's Farm to fetch the milk they had to bring back some wood as well.

10. Which part of Swallow is John going to be working on each day at Horseshoe Cove?

Answer: the mast

Captain Flint has brought across a Norway pole from the boat yard so that John can work on it every day with a shaping plane and a pair of calipers. He's even brought Swallow's old mast to use as a model. In this way John will feel that he's doing something to rebuild the dinghy that he wrecked.

11. Captain Flint remembers the cave in Swallowdale from many years ago. Titty has decided to call it "Peter Duck's Cave". What did Captain Flint use to call it?

Answer: Ben Gunn's Cave

It is not surprising that Nancy and Peggy are full of ideas about pirates when their uncle used to play as one so many years before. Ben Gunn was marooned on the "Treasure Island" in the book of the same name by Robert L. Stevenson.

12. What was Titty's "holiday task" that had been set by her school?

Answer: She had to learn French verbs.

John's holiday task is to learn algebra. He is not bothered by this as he knows all sailors have to learn it if they are going to be any good at navigation.

13. What was the "Knickerbocker-breaker"?

Answer: A slippery rock down which Roger would regularly slide.

Roger was constantly causing splits and tears in his shorts. Of Roger it says, "Mary darned him about twice a day until at last he was tired of the "Knickerbocker-breaker".

14. As Susan asks in the story, "Who is Bob Blackett"?

Answer: Nancy and Peggy's father

The question arises because they find a brass box in a cairn on the top of Coniston Old Man known to them as Kanchenjunga. There they find that Nancy and Peggy's mother and father and their Uncle Jim had climbed same mountain 30 years before only they had pretended it was the Matterhorn. Bob Blackett is now dead, possibly a victim of the Great War.

15. How does Titty get back to the road near Swainson's Farm on the evening of the day on which Roger hurts his leg?

Answer: She rides on a big log being towed by three horses.

One of the woodsmen is engaged to Mary Swainson at the farm and he agrees to Billy's request to carry Tity safely back to John and Susan. Roger spents the night in the Billies' wigwam and the following day is supplied with a crutch that allows him to pretend that he is Long John Silver.

Source: Author Philian

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor minch before going online.
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