Remember the book that lured you under the covers with a flashlight? Somewhere in this quiz hides the writer who stole your bedtime. From wild rumpuses to rivers of chocolate, these authors shaped your imagination before you even knew it needed molding.
You’ll meet the rebels who left kids alone in the dark, the optimists who painted hope in watercolor, and the lovable weirdo who turned their baggage into bedtime gold. Picture books that taught you letters, chapter books that taught you tears, and the oddball titles your folks still don’t get.
Can you pair the spell-casters with their classics? Your inner kid’s watching—and judging.
[D] Ezra Jack Keats | First mainstream picture book with Black protagonist. Keats, Jewish artist, found Peter's photo and kept it for years before creating history.
2/30
The Tiger Who Came to Tea?
[C] Judith Kerr | Kerr escaped Nazi Germany as child. Tiger possibly represents unexpected terror; or just hungry tiger her daughter imagined.
3/30
Howl's Moving Castle?
[C] Diana Wynne Jones | Written during bout with illness, castle's mobility reflected Jones feeling trapped. Miyazaki's film made her cry with joy.
4/30
A Wrinkle in Time?
[B] Madeleine L'Engle | Rejected thirty times for being "too different." L'Engle's physicist husband helped with tesseract science; daughter became Meg's model.
5/30
Watership Down?
[A] Richard Adams | Told aloud to daughters during car trips. Adams' war experience influenced rabbit battles; rejection letters called it "too adult."
6/30
Tom's Midnight Garden?
[B] Philippa Pearce | Childhood tuberculosis gave Pearce years bedridden, dreaming of gardens. Time-slip inspired by Cambridge college's midnight chimes.
7/30
Grimm's Fairy Tales?
[D] Brothers Grimm | Collected to preserve German folklore from Napoleon's influence. Tales got darker with each edition as nationalism increased.
8/30
The Tale of Peter Rabbit?
[B] Beatrix Potter | Self-published after rejections, Potter used mycology study savings. Pet rabbit Peter really did eat too much and die.
9/30
The Railway Children?
[A] Edith Nesbit | Socialist activist wrote to support husband jailed for embezzlement. Railway setting let working-class children be heroes.
10/30
Noughts and Crosses?
[A] Malorie Blackman | Reversed racial power dynamics after publisher said "no market for Black books." Became UK's most banned school book.
11/30
The BFG?
[C] Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake | BFG's language ("whizzpopping") invented with granddaughter. Dahl kept dream journal, believed in midnight inspiration like BFG.
12/30
Rules of Summer?
[B] Shaun Tan | Each illustration took weeks; backyard adventures became surreal philosophy. Tan's brother inspired the mysterious, arbitrary rules.
13/30
Momo?
[B] Michael Ende | Written in Italian villa after German publishers wanted sequel to Neverending Story. Time-thieves reflected Ende's hatred of efficiency culture.
14/30
The Story of Ferdinand?
[A] Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson | Written in 40 minutes on rainy Sunday. Hitler banned it; Gandhi loved it; it outsold Gone with Wind.
15/30
The Lord of the Rings?
[D] JRR Tolkien | Took 12 years writing between lectures. Publishers wanted sequel to Hobbit; got mythology, languages, and appendices instead.
16/30
The Owl Service?
[A] Alan Garner | Welsh mythology meets class conflict in renovated cottage. Garner found actual owl-patterned plates that inspired supernatural plot.
17/30
Ronia, the Robber's Daughter?
[C] Astrid Lindgren | Written at 74 to prove she wasn't "too old." Last novel featured girl fiercer than Pippi, living Shakespeare's robber romance.
18/30
The Neverending Story?
[D] Michael Ende | Red and green text represented different worlds. Ende hated film adaptation so much he sued to remove his name.
19/30
The Panchatantra?
[D] Anonymous / folk | Sanskrit animal fables 2000 years old, traveled Silk Road. More translated than any book except Bible before printing press.
20/30
Treasure Island?
[A] Robert Louis Stevenson | Map drawn for stepson Lloyd came first, story followed. Written in Scottish highlands while coughing blood—adventure versus tuberculosis.
21/30
Mary Poppins?
[A] PL Travers | Travers channeled her stern great-aunt and mystical interests. Fought Disney for years; cried at premiere—not happy tears.
22/30
Ballet Shoes?
[D] Noel Streafield | Ex-actress wrote about stage children during Depression. Publisher demanded "shoes" in title; launched career-shoes series.
23/30
So Much!?
[D] Trish Cooke and Helen Oxenbury | Celebration of Black British family joy, rare in 90s publishing. Cooke based on her own baby's first birthday party.
24/30
We're Going on a Bear Hunt?
[C] Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury | Traditional camp song Rosen learned from American counselor. Oxenbury added father figure; originally just brave children.
25/30
The Adventures of Cipollino?
[D] Gianni Rodari | Communist fairy tale where vegetables overthrow fruit aristocracy. Hugely popular in USSR; capitalism's tomatoes were villains.
26/30
The Giving Tree?
[C] Shel Silverstein | Controversial since publication—codependency or unconditional love? Silverstein refused to explain, said interpretation was reader's job.
27/30
The Gruffalo?
[B] Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler | Based on Chinese folk tale; originally featured tiger. Gruffalo invented because "tiger" didn't rhyme with anything useful.
28/30
Julián Is a Mermaid?
[C] Jessica Love | Love's subway sketches of fabulous people became celebration of self-expression. Grandmother's acceptance based on Love's own abuela.
29/30
Comet in Moominland?
[B] Tove Jansson | Written during WWII threat; comet represented atomic anxiety. Moomins find love while world might end—perfectly Finnish.
30/30
Finn Family Moomintroll?
[B] Tove Jansson | Jansson illustrated while listening to radio plays. Hobgoblin's hat transforming everything reflected post-war Europe's surreal changes.