For the Pie!

I love trivia.

I was a 19-year-old college student when the first edition of Trivial Pursuit came out. Back then, my family would spend hours rolling the die, answering questions, and collecting pie. Forty years later, I still know that when you roll a 4 or 5 on Roll Again, you automatically move to another Roll Again space. 

Over the years, we have collected dozens of games that feature knowing stuff, and they are often a big hit whenever the family gathers. A few years ago, we were all into HQ Trivia, eagerly waiting fro the next live match where we could vie for our share of the jackpot, usually 18 cents or so.

These days? My daily source of trivia is the Name Drop game on The New Yorker digital site. Each player gets 6 clues and 100 seconds to guess the identity of a specific person. I like it when I win, because I feel smart, but I also like it when I lose, because it reveals big gaps in my cultural knowledge, which forces me to confront my biases and assess my priorities in cultural consumption.

Even so, I have never gotten the answer right on the first clue, until today. I have had some strong hunches, and a few Oh I should have guessed that! moments, but never certainty of the correct answer from Clue 1:

In my memoir “A Girl from Yamhill,” I recall discovering my love of reading when, bored on a rainy day, I picked up “The Dutch Twins,” by Lucy Fitch Perkins.

Of course it was Beverly Cleary, who, if she hadn't died last year, would have been 105 on this day, the day before my brother's birthday, and to whom he wrote a letter when he was eight (and she was 56), and who answered him back, in what I remember as one of the most miraculous events of our childhood!