Mr Stink KS3 Quiz (With Answers)

Q1 of 30

Why does Chloe decide to hide Mr Stink in the garden shed?

• She feels genuinely sorry for him and her home life is miserable, so she is drawn to someone even more isolated
• She finds him ill in the garden and wants to nurse him
• She wants to use him to embarrass her controlling mother
• She is doing a school project on homelessness

Q2 of 30

What is Chloe's home life like?

• Happy but financially difficult
• Tense — her mother is cold and ambitious, her father is unhappy, and Chloe feels invisible and unimportant
• Strict but loving with very high expectations of Chloe academically
• Chaotic and disorganised because her parents argue constantly

Q3 of 30

What is the surprising truth about Mr Stink's background?

• He was once a famous author
• He was a well-educated man from a good family who chose to leave society after a personal tragedy
• He is a former criminal who cannot return to normal life
• He was once a local politician who fell from grace

Q4 of 30

How does Chloe's mother try to use Mr Stink for her own purposes?

• As a teacher for Chloe to learn about real life
• As a case study for her new charity
• As evidence for her campaign against council cuts
• As a political prop to boost her election campaign

Q5 of 30

What does Mr Stink teach Chloe?

• That homeless people need practical help more than sympathy
• That running away from your problems never works
• That appearances are deceptive and everyone has a story
• That society cannot be changed from the outside

Q6 of 30

How does Chloe's father secretly feel about life at home?

• He supports everything his wife does
• He is unhappy and controlled by his wife
• He wants to leave but stays for the children's sake
• He is content but exhausted

Q7 of 30

How does Walliams treat the subject of homelessness in this book?

• He presents homelessness as a lifestyle Mr Stink has freely chosen
• He avoids explaining how Mr Stink became homeless to keep it mysterious
• He gives Mr Stink a specific backstory that makes homelessness feel personal and human, not just a social statistic
• He suggests homeless people have all made bad choices

Q8 of 30

What does Chloe find she has in common with Mr Stink?

• They both love reading
• They are both outsiders
• They both feel guilty about the past
• They both dream of travelling to other countries

Q9 of 30

How does the story end for Chloe's family?

• Nothing changes
• Her mother loses the election and becomes kinder
• Her parents separate and Chloe goes to live with her father
• The truth about Mr Stink comes out and leads to changes in how each family member sees the others

Q10 of 30

What does 'Mr Stink' say about what children need from their parents?

• To be seen, heard and valued for who they are
• Discipline and structure above all else
• Financial security and social connections
• Freedom to make their own choices and learn from mistakes

Q11 of 30

What does Chloe think about while she is at school?

• How to make new friends at school
• Her plan to expose her mother's dishonesty
• Whether Mr Stink is safe in the shed and whether she will be found out
• How to improve her grades

Q12 of 30

Who discovers Mr Stink in the shed?

• A neighbour who sees light through the shed window
• The gardener who comes to maintain the lawn
• Chloe's younger sister who keeps the secret
• Chloe's mother during a garden inspection

Q13 of 30

What does Mr Stink's educated way of speaking reveal?

• That homelessness can happen to anyone regardless of background or education
• That he is not really homeless
• That he once worked in the government
• That he is hiding from someone who is looking for him

Q14 of 30

How does Chloe's father show small acts of rebellion at home?

• He leaves the television on after she has gone to bed and eats toast over the sink
• He supports Chloe's friendship with Mr Stink secretly
• He secretly reads books his wife has banned
• He gives Mr Stink money when Chloe's mother is not looking

Q15 of 30

What does Chloe ultimately want from her relationship with her mother?

• To be seen and valued as a person, not just an accessory to her mother's ambitions
• To be allowed to make her own friends without interference
• For her mother to leave and her father to take over
• For her mother to lose the election

Q16 of 30

What does Chloe's friendship with Mr Stink suggest about how society judges people by appearance?

• Homeless people are always interesting
• By befriending someone society dismisses as worthless, Chloe demonstrates that human worth cannot be measured by cleanliness, wealth or status
• Chloe is naive, and
• Appearances are always accurate

Q17 of 30

How does Walliams use Chloe's mother's political campaign to satirise politicians and their attitudes towards the homeless?

• He uses her as a vehicle to expose how politicians exploit social issues for votes while showing contempt for the very people they claim to help
• The campaign is irrelevant
• Politicians are always honest
• He supports her campaign, a reading that locates the novel's meaning in its historical and personal context rather than in its literary structure

Q18 of 30

What might Mr Stink's choice to remain homeless — even though he was once wealthy — suggest about freedom and belonging?

• He forgot he was rich, a reading that locates the novel's meaning in its historical and personal context rather than in its literary structure
• He is simply eccentric
• Homelessness is glamorous
• His choice suggests that freedom, authenticity and grief can make conventional life impossible

Q19 of 30

How does the relationship between Chloe and her father contrast with her relationship with her mother?

• Her father is irrelevant, a reading that locates the novel's meaning in its historical and personal context rather than in its literary structure
• Her father's quiet kindness contrasts with her mother's cold ambition, suggesting that emotional warmth and attentiveness matter more than achievement
• Her mother is the better parent, a reading that locates the novel's meaning in its historical and personal context rather than in its literary structure
• Both relationships are identical

Q20 of 30

What does Annabelle's character represent in the novel?

• A character without significance
• A realistic portrayal of sisters
• The performatively 'perfect' child whose goodness is entirely for show
• The ideal child

Q21 of 30

How does Mr Stink's backstory — losing his wife and abandoning his old life — add depth to what could have been a one-dimensional comic character?

• It reveals grief as the invisible force behind social invisibility, transforming Mr Stink from a comic oddity into a genuinely tragic figure
• His backstory is not believable
• It doesn't add depth
• It makes the book sad and not funny

Q22 of 30

What theme about childhood is Walliams exploring through Chloe's act of hiding Mr Stink from her parents?

• That children often possess a more instinctive moral courage and compassion than adults, even when acting outside the rules
• Children should always obey adults
• Chloe is being naughty, and
• That children are dishonest

Q23 of 30

How does the novel challenge stereotypes about homeless people?

• It reinforces them
• The novel avoids the issue
• By revealing Mr Stink's educated, aristocratic background and his rich inner life, Walliams demolishes the assumption that homeless people are simple, unworthy or responsible for their situation
• Homeless people are always interesting

Q24 of 30

What does the dog Duchess represent in the novel?

• Mr Stink's possession, and
• Unconditional loyalty and love
• A plot device
• A comic prop

Q25 of 30

In what way is Mr Stink a story about loneliness shared between two very different characters?

• Both Chloe
• Neither character is lonely
• Loneliness is not a theme
• Mr Stink is lonely, and

Q26 of 30

How does Walliams use comedy to make uncomfortable social commentary about homelessness more accessible to young readers?

• Humour lowers the reader's guard and makes the serious critique of social attitudes towards poverty and homelessness easier to receive without feeling preachy
• Comedy weakens the message
• Comedy and social commentary cannot coexist
• The book is not funny

Q27 of 30

What might the ending — Mr Stink continuing to travel — suggest about the nature of home and belonging?

• The ending is sad, and
• He is homeless by failure
• It suggests that belonging is internal
• He has nowhere to go, a reading that locates the novel's meaning in its historical and personal context rather than in its literary structure

Q28 of 30

How does the novel portray the gap between public persona and private reality through Chloe's mother?

• Her public and private selves are identical, a reading that locates the novel's meaning in its historical and personal context rather than in its literary structure
• Politicians are usually hypocrites
• Her compassionate political image is grotesquely at odds with her cold, controlling behaviour at home
• The novel doesn't explore this

Q29 of 30

What does Chloe learn about moral courage by the end of the novel?

• She learns that real moral courage means acting on your convictions even against social pressure, parental authority and public ridicule
• She learns nothing, a reading that locates the novel's meaning in its historical and personal context rather than in its literary structure
• She learns to obey authority, a reading that locates the novel's meaning in its historical and personal context rather than in its literary structure
• She learns to be more obedient, a reading that locates the novel's meaning in its historical and personal context rather than in its literary structure

Q30 of 30

Mr Stink was published in 2009, during a period of economic recession. How might the novel reflect anxieties of that time?

• The novel reflects heightened anxieties about poverty, homelessness and the callousness of politicians during a period when economic inequality was growing sharply in Britain
• It was written in a vacuum
• It has no connection to its era
• It is a timeless story only