About this quiz
This free KS2 quiz on Stig of the Dump by Clive King contains 31 retrieval and vocabulary questions, aligned to the KS2 national curriculum for English (Years 3–6). Each question tests whether readers have understood the plot, characters and key events. This tier is ideal for primary school pupils (Years 3–6) and mirrors the style of questions in Year 6 SATs reading papers.
Use this quiz after reading the book to check understanding, or work through it alongside the text. All answers are revealed instantly when you click, so it works equally well as a self-marking worksheet or as a guided reading activity. Questions mirror the retrieval and vocabulary domains of the Year 6 SATs reading paper. All 31 questions are free with no registration or subscription required.
Looking for a different level? Also available: KS3 analysis quiz, GCSE critical quiz. All quizzes on freebookquiz.com are free, curriculum-aligned and written by a human editor who has read the book.
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Q1 of 31
What is the name of the boy who discovers Stig?
Q2 of 31
Where does Stig live?
- In an old farmhouse
- Under the floor of the village hall
- In a chalk pit at the bottom of Barney's grandparents' garden
- In a cave in the forest
Q3 of 31
What does Stig appear to be?
- A Stone Age boy who has somehow survived into the modern world
- A robot built from old materials
- A time-travelling scientist
- An alien who has landed on Earth
Q4 of 31
How does Barney first fall into the chalk pit?
- He falls through the edge of the pit
- He trips over a stone
- He is pushed in by bullies
- He deliberately climbs down
Q5 of 31
What is remarkable about Stig's home?
- It is an exact replica of a Stone Age dwelling
- It is full of electronic gadgets
- It is built entirely underground with no windows
- It is made entirely from discarded objects people have thrown away
Q6 of 31
What does Barney give Stig that he finds particularly fascinating?
- A pair of glasses
- A watch
- A penknife
- A torch
Q7 of 31
Who is Barney staying with during the story?
- His aunt and uncle
- His teacher
- His parents
- His grandparents
Q8 of 31
What does Stig help Barney do on one occasion?
- Defeat some bullies from the village
- Catch a fox that has been raiding the henhouse
- Find his way home after getting lost
- Build a treehouse
Q9 of 31
What is the name of Barney's sister?
Q10 of 31
What is the tone of Stig of the Dump?
- Serious and educational about prehistoric life
- Light, funny and gentle with a sense of wonder
- Sad and melancholy
- Frightening and dark throughout
Q11 of 31
What skill does Stig demonstrate that impresses Barney most?
- He can run faster than any animal
- He can light fire with just two sticks
- His ability to make and use tools from found objects
- He can communicate with animals
Q12 of 31
What does the chalk pit symbolise in the novel?
- Industrial pollution and environmental damage
- The social divisions between rich and poor
- The gap between the present and the distant past
- Danger and death
Q13 of 31
Does anyone else apart from Barney and Soo meet Stig?
- Yes, Barney's grandparents also meet him
- Yes, Barney's teacher meets Stig during a school trip
- Yes, the whole village eventually discovers him
- No, adults in the book never directly encounter Stig
Q14 of 31
When was Stig of the Dump first published?
Q15 of 31
What does the novel suggest about intelligence?
- Intelligence can take many forms — Stig's practical genius is equal to any academic ability
- Intelligence is about reading and writing
- Children are always more intelligent than adults
- Only modern education produces true intelligence
Q16 of 31
How does King create a sense of magic in the novel?
- Through lots of frightening supernatural events
- By having characters explain the magic in scientific detail
- Through elaborate magical spells and prophecies
- By treating the impossible as completely normal and matter-of-fact
Q17 of 31
What does Barney's easy acceptance of Stig say about children?
- Children are better at accepting difference and the unusual without prejudice
- Children are gullible and believe anything
- Children make up imaginary friends when lonely
- Children are more fearful than adults
Q18 of 31
What is the setting's time period?
- The Victorian era, around 1880
- The 1960s, when the book was written
- The 1980s
- The 1930s, just before World War II
Q19 of 31
What type of story is Stig of the Dump?
- A realistic school story
- A science fiction novel about time travel
- A magical realist story where the impossible is treated as ordinary
- A historical novel set entirely in prehistoric times
Q20 of 31
What does the novel suggest about friendship?
- Friendship can transcend all barriers of time, language and culture
- The best friendships are between people who are very similar
- Friendships between children are not real or lasting
- True friends must share the same language and background
Q21 of 31
Which of the following best describes Stig's character?
- Foolish and easily confused
- Clever, resourceful and gentle
- Dangerous and unpredictable
- Fierce and territorial
Q22 of 31
What does the ending of the novel suggest?
- Stig is revealed to have been imaginary all along
- Stig disappears forever, making the friendship seem like a dream
- Barney and Soo encounter Stig once more but in a clearly different, dreamlike context suggesting the boundary between past and present is thin
- The friendship continues unchanged into adulthood
Q23 of 31
How does Stig communicate with Barney?
- Through writing on the chalk pit walls
- Through gestures, actions and a few simple sounds
- Through dreams and visions
- Through a magical translation device
Q24 of 31
What literary device does King use throughout the novel?
- Dramatic irony — the reader knows more than the characters
- Free indirect discourse — giving Barney's thoughts in third person
- Epistolary form — the story told through letters
- Unreliable narration
Q25 of 31
What does 'chalk pit' suggest about the novel's geography?
- The story is set near the coast
- The setting is in a chalk-rich area of southern England — the North or South Downs
- The setting is in a coal-mining area of northern England
- The story takes place in Wales
Q26 of 31
How does the novel treat the contrast between prehistoric and modern life?
- Modern life is presented as clearly superior in every way
- Modern life is shown to be inferior and destructive
- The contrast celebrates Stig's practical skills while gently satirising modern wastefulness
- The prehistoric world is presented as violent and frightening
Q27 of 31
What role does Barney's grandmother play in the novel?
- She represents adult disbelief — she never quite sees what Barney sees
- She is the main antagonist who tries to remove Stig
- She also has a special connection to the prehistoric world
- She is barely mentioned and plays no significant role
Q28 of 31
Which best describes King's prose style in Stig of the Dump?
- Formal and distanced, maintaining adult authority
- Complex and ironic, aimed at adult readers
- Dense and poetic with elaborate imagery
- Plain, direct and child-centred — seen from ground level
Q29 of 31
What is unusual about how Stig's existence is explained?
- A wise old character explains the situation to Barney in detail
- The novel never explains how Stig exists in the present day — the impossible is simply accepted
- A magic spell at the beginning explains the premise
- The novel provides a detailed scientific explanation using time theory
Q30 of 31
What does the novel suggest about the nature of creativity?
- Only ancient cultures were truly creative
- Creativity belongs only to artists and professional makers
- True creativity is about making something valuable from what others have discarded
- Creativity requires expensive materials and formal education
Q31 of 31
How does King use Barney's outsider status to develop the novel's themes?
- The novel does not present Barney as an outsider
- His outsider status makes him sad and he wishes he were back with his friends at home
- Barney's outsider status makes him aggressive and resentful
- Staying with grandparents frees Barney from his normal routines, giving him the freedom to explore and befriend Stig