Code Name Bananas KS3 Quiz (With Answers)

Q1 of 30

When is the story set and how does this shape the plot?

• The First World War
• The 1960s
• World War Two
• The 1950s

Q2 of 30

Who are the two main characters?

• Eric and his uncle who is a zookeeper at London Zoo
• Eric, a boy, and Gertrude, a gorilla
• Eric and a soldier guarding the zoo from saboteurs
• Eric and a German boy separated from his family in the bombing

Q3 of 30

What bond forms between Eric and Gertrude?

• Gertrude acts as a protective older sister to Eric
• Eric trains Gertrude to help with secret missions
• A deep and unlikely friendship
• Gertrude is drawn to Eric because he reminds her of her keeper who went to fight

Q4 of 30

What danger does Gertrude face from the zoo authorities?

• They plan to evacuate her away from London permanently
• They plan to send her abroad as a diplomatic gift
• They plan to shoot the dangerous animals to prevent them escaping during a bomb raid
• They want to use her in military research

Q5 of 30

Who is Ratty and what is his role?

• Eric's uncle who works at the zoo and is his only London family
• A zookeeper who secretly funds resistance to the Nazis
• A rat that guides Eric through tunnels
• A fellow evacuee who becomes Eric's reluctant ally

Q6 of 30

How does the wartime setting add emotional weight to the story?

• By explaining why Eric must act alone without adult help
• By allowing Walliams to include exciting action sequences
• By giving it a historically accurate backdrop
• By showing that animals

Q7 of 30

What does the friendship between Eric and Gertrude suggest?

• That animals are always better companions than humans
• That friendships across apparent barriers
• That wartime loneliness was the greatest challenge civilians faced
• That children and animals understand each other in ways adults cannot

Q8 of 30

How does the spy subplot fit with the animal story?

• It is more interesting and the animal story supports it
• It distracts from the animal story
• It raises the stakes
• It was added by the publisher

Q9 of 30

What historical details ground the wartime setting?

• Evacuations, ration books, Anderson shelters, air raids and the Home Guard
• Focus on famous historical figures from the war
• Only the Blitz and evacuation
• Historical details are deliberately avoided to keep it accessible

Q10 of 30

What message does the story carry about animals in wartime?

• That they should have been evacuated from London at the start
• That the bond between humans and animals is stronger than any wartime policy
• That zookeepers were unsung heroes of the Second World War
• That animals deserve the same protection and compassion as people

Q11 of 30

What is the Code Name 'Bananas' and where does it come from?

• It is the name of a top-secret wartime mission Eric stumbles across
• It is the code word Eric and Ratty use to communicate safely
• Eric uses it as a nickname for Gertrude because she loves bananas
• It is the military code name for the gorilla rescue operation

Q12 of 30

How does Eric's mother feel about animals?

• She is frightened of large animals and disapproves of Eric's visits to the zoo
• She worked at the zoo herself before the war
• She loves them as much as Eric does
• She is indifferent

Q13 of 30

What does Gertrude's intelligence suggest about the story's message?

• That gorillas should be treated as humans
• That wartime bonds between species are unique and cannot be recreated
• That zoos are good places for gorillas
• That animals are far more aware and emotionally complex than most people assume

Q14 of 30

How does the wartime blackout affect Eric's nighttime adventures?

• It means he must memorise the route perfectly before it gets dark
• It creates fear and disorientation but also excitement
• It provides cover
• It makes everything more dangerous and he relies on Gertrude's senses

Q15 of 30

What does the children's home Eric comes from tell us about his situation?

• That the home treats its children well and Eric is happy there
• That he is part of the large number of children made vulnerable by the war
• That he has no family connections at all
• That he was placed there because of bad behaviour

Q16 of 30

How does Walliams use the World War Two setting to explore themes of courage in ordinary people?

• WWII is an exciting backdrop, which is consistent with Dahl's characteristic directness as a storyteller
• The wartime context elevates the novel's themes
• The wartime setting is inappropriate for a children's book
• WWII is too serious for comedy

Q17 of 30

What does the threat to Gertrude — a government order to destroy dangerous animals — say about how institutions treat the vulnerable in times of crisis?

• Governments always make right decisions in wartime
• The order is reasonable
• The threat is a plot device, and
• The order represents how bureaucratic thinking

Q18 of 30

How does Eric and Gertrude's friendship challenge conventional ideas about who or what we can truly connect with?

• The friendship is unrealistic
• It shows that gorillas make good pets
• Their friendship argues that emotional intelligence and empathy can create genuine bonds across species
• Animals cannot truly connect with humans

Q19 of 30

What does the chaos of the Blitz allow Walliams to do narratively that peacetime London could not?

• Chaos makes things exciting, and
• Nothing particular
• The Blitz's chaos
• The Blitz is dramatic, and

Q20 of 30

How does Walliams portray the wartime community spirit and what does it suggest about human behaviour in extremis?

• Through encounters with ordinary Londoners who help rather than hinder Eric and Gertrude, Walliams shows that shared danger can dissolve ordinary social divisions and generate extraordinary collective kindness
• Community spirit is a myth
• The Blitz destroyed community
• The community is irrelevant to the plot

Q21 of 30

What does Gertrude represent as a character — beyond being an animal?

• Gertrude is a gorilla, and
• She represents the zoo, and
• She represents Africa, a reading that locates the novel's meaning in its historical and personal context rather than in its literary structure
• Gertrude represents the innocent, the vulnerable, the non-combatant caught in a war that has nothing to do with them

Q22 of 30

How does the novel make a case for civil disobedience — breaking unjust rules — through Eric's actions?

• Civil disobedience is for adults
• The novel supports following all rules
• By making Eric's rule-breaking (saving Gertrude against official orders) clearly morally right, Walliams suggests that just rules deserve obedience but unjust ones demand resistance
• Rules should always be followed

Q23 of 30

What does Eric's relationship with his uncle suggest about the role of adult allies in children's moral development?

• Adults are always wiser than children
• The uncle is irrelevant
• Adults should always lead
• His uncle's eventual support

Q24 of 30

How does Walliams use animals in this novel to comment on human violence and war?

• War commentary is too adult for this book
• Animals are irrelevant to war commentary
• Gertrude — innocent, non-violent, caught in human conflict — embodies the victims of war who had no part in creating it, making the war's cost visible in a form that bypasses the adult abstractions through which war is usually discussed
• Animals represent nature, which is consistent with Dahl's characteristic directness as a storyteller

Q25 of 30

What does the novel suggest about the ethics of keeping animals in zoos, through Gertrude's situation?

• While not condemning zoos directly, the novel makes the reader feel Gertrude's experience of captivity and danger so viscerally that it prompts genuine reflection on whether keeping wild animals in cities creates vulnerabilities that are ultimately cruel
• The zoo question is not raised
• Zoos are always harmful
• It fully supports zoos

Q26 of 30

How does the code name 'Bananas' function tonally in a novel dealing with serious WWII themes?

• Code names are always silly
• It is inappropriately comic
• The code name has no significance
• The playful code name introduces the gentle comedy that runs through the novel

Q27 of 30

In what ways does Code Name Bananas follow the tradition of the wartime adventure story, and how does it update the genre?

• It follows the tradition of wartime heroism and pluck, but updates it by placing an unlikely hero (a small boy) and an impossible companion (a gorilla) at the centre
• The genre is outdated
• There is no wartime adventure tradition
• It copies old war stories, and

Q28 of 30

How does Eric's love for Gertrude model a form of moral courage that transcends self-interest?

• Eric is irresponsible, and
• Eric risks real danger
• Eric acts out of self-interest
• His courage is accidental

Q29 of 30

What does the WWII setting allow Walliams to explore about what it means to be on 'the right side' of history?

• Historical moral questions are too complex for children
• The Allies were right, which is consistent with Dahl's characteristic directness as a storyteller
• By showing a boy disobeying Allied government orders to save an innocent life, Walliams complicates the simple moral geography of WWII
• The setting is irrelevant to moral questions

Q30 of 30

How does Gertrude's fate — surviving and eventually thriving — serve the emotional needs of young readers processing stories about war and loss?

• Children should experience tragic endings
• Gertrude's fate is irrelevant
• Tragic endings are more honest
• Her survival provides the resolution of hope that young readers need