The woman&home literary Christmas quiz: 50 challenging and fun questions for bookworms

The holiday season is a time for joy – from tucking into your favorite Christmas recipes and cocktails to having friends and family together again.

Whether you’ve overindulged – and who hasn’t been there – or you’re just looking for a fun way to pass the time before starting up a party, we’ve got a selection of festive quizzes to take part in.

This one is all about books, from Christmas classics, books that have inspired your favorite Christmas movies and more... 

And once you've finished why not try our brilliant emoji quiz too!

But for now, swap your paper crowns for your thinking hats. It’s question time…

Round one - easy literary Christmas quiz questions

‘Tis the season of goodwill so we’ll start off with a whole heap of easier questions. But beware, some of these might seem easy but can trip you up if you answer without really thinking.

1. Who wrote a Christmas Carol?
2. What is the full title of the Dr Seuss classic set in Whoville?
3. What is Scrooge’s first name?
4. Which children’s classic is set in a land where “it’s always winter but never Christmas?”
5. In the Harry Potter books and movies, what does Mrs Weasley famously make for Christmas?
6. Finish this line from the famous poem, “Twas the night before the Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a [BLANK]”
7. Which beloved tale by O. Henry sees a husband and wife make heartfelt sacrifices to buy one another a gift at Christmas?
8. Who wrote Hercule Poirot’s Christmas?
9. Which character says the famous line, “God bless us, every one”
10. How many ghosts visit Scrooge in total?

11. This 1985 book was turned into an animated Christmas movie with the same title starring Tom Hanks
12. Who was Scrooge’s business partner?
13. What was the name of the little Who who convinced the Grinch to love Christmas again?
14. Brought to life in operas, ballets and even loosely inspiring Disney’s Frozen, Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale is called The [WHAT]?
15. What iconic work of American literature was only made possible because Harper Lee’s friends gave her a year’s salary as a Christmas present so she could take time off to write?

Round two - literary Christmas quiz questions that get harder as you go on

1. Which novel opens with the lines “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents”?
2. Which poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow includes the lines, “The words repeat, Of peace on earth, good-will to men”?
3. What was Dr Seuss’ real name?
4. What is the full title of the book that inspired Tchaikovsky’s Christmassy ballet?
5. The earliest movie adaptation of A Christmas Carol was released when?
6. The Greatest Gift was the name of the short story which inspired what beloved Christmas movie?
7. How many Christmas Speeches did Queen Elizabeth II make during her lifetime
8. We know it more commonly as Twas the Night Before Christmas but what’s the poem actually called?
9. ... And who wrote it?
10. Which author – most famous for a fantasy epic trilogy – also has a Christmas story titled  Letters from Father Christmas?

11. Which Beatrix Potter tale features a wedding that takes place on Christmas day?
12. Michael Morpurgo's The Best Christmas Present in the World features the discovery of a letter from a soldier fighting in which war?
13. What year was A Christmas Carol published? (You can be fair and give a point if they are within a year either side)
14. In The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, what present does Father Christmas give to Lucy?
15. Who wrote the poem-turned-carol In the Bleak Midwinter?

Round three – true or false?

For this next round, you’re just going to have to go with your gut – unless you happen to know some very specific trivia about famous authors, Christmas books and the origins of some famous carols. Just answer true or false to the following…

1. Rudolph was the first reindeer to be introduced to readers in print
2. Tiny Tim was originally going to be called Little Fred
3. The first ever Christmas cards were sent the same year A Christmas Carol was published
4. The first ever appearance of Father Christmas in literature was in a Shakespeare play
5. Dr Seuss based the characters of Whoville on Connecticut

Round four - Christmas anagrams

Chances are if you love books, you love wordplay and language puzzles.

So, we’ve turned some festive phrases, quotations from classic Christmas books, characters associated with Christmas or from festive stories, and the titles of some popular Christmas songs into anagrams.

1. English Tint
2. Rustled vote
3. Wolf Snakes
4. Gum Hub
5. Nan Mows
6. Crotch Tabbi
7. Item stole
8. Shared
9. Loony Thigh
10. Chemists wraith
11. Vicars Themes
12. Icemen Sip
13. Discards thumping
14. Barmy cajole
15. Howdy uncoil

Answers 

Round one

1. Charles Dickens
2. How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
3. Ebeneezer
4. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
5. Handmade jumpers
6. Mouse
7. The Gift of the Magi
8. Agatha Christie
9. Tiny Tim
10. Four – including Jacob Marley!
11. The Polar Express
12. Jacob Marley
13. Cindy Lou Who
14. Snow Queen
15. To Kill a Mockingbird

Round two

1. Little Women
2. Christmas Bells
3. Theodor Seuss Geisel (a point if they just got Theodor)
4.  The Nutcracker and the Mouse King
5. 1901
6. It’s a Wonderful Life
7. 69 – during her 70 year reign, there was only one year a Christmas speech wasn’t broadcast. The reason given was that a special documentary aired in the summer in its stead
8. A Visit from St. Nicholas
9. Clement Clarke Moore
10. J.R.R Tolkien
11. The Tailor of Gloucester
12. World War I
13. 1843
14. A dagger and a healing cordial
15. Christina Rossetti

Round three

1. False – he was actually the last. In the 1823 poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas, readers met Santa’s other reindeer before Rudolph came along in the 1930s
2. True – it’s reported that Dickens was going to name the character after either of his brothers, named Alfred and Frederick
3. True
4. False – Father Christmas’ earliest recorded literary appearance was in Christmas, His Masque, a 1616 play by Ben Jonson
5. False – it’s rumored but not confirmed Whoville gets its inspiration from Easthampton, Massachusetts

Round four

1. Silent Night
2. Twelve Doves
3. Snowflakes
4. Humbug
5. Snowman
6. Bob Cratchit
7. Mistletoe
8. Dasher
9. O Holy Night
10. White Christmas
11. Christmas Eve
12. Mince Pies
13. Christmas Pudding
14. Jacob Marley
15. Cindy Lou Who