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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSOn June 23, 2018, twelve boys from the Wild Boars youth soccer club finish practice in Mae Sai, a border town in northern Thailand, and bike out to Tham Luang, a cave in the nearby Nang Non mountains, with their twenty-five-year-old assistant coach, Ekkapol Chantawong, whom everyone calls Coach Ek. Coach Ek has promised only a quick trip, since one of the boys, Night, has a birthday party that evening, and a sign at the mouth of the cave warns visitors to stay out once the rainy season starts. It is not supposed to start for weeks. The boys wade through cold pools deep into the cave, farther than some of them have ever gone, before Thi, the only one wearing a watch, tells them it is time to turn back. On the way out, they find the passage blocked by water that was not there an hour earlier. Unusually heavy rain has soaked the mountain and sent a flash flood through the cave's passages. Coach Ek ties a rope around his waist and swims in to test how far the flooded section goes, but he cannot find air on the other side and has to be pulled back. Thirteen people are sealed inside Tham Luang, with no food and no way to reach the surface. Christina Soontornvat's account follows the massive, worldwide effort that raced to bring them out again.
Free Battle of the Books questions for All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team
SPOILERSEvery one of these has the same answer, and that is the point. In a real battle the question is read aloud with a dozen other books in play, and students have a few seconds to place it. Here is what a battle might ask about All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team. Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.
Where in the book they come from
- Early in the book
In what book does a coach tie a rope around his waist before swimming into floodwater?
✓ Answer
All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat
Coach Ek hands the other end to Thi, Night, and Adul and tells them that two tugs means haul him back. He finds no air space at all beyond the flood, so he yanks twice and the boys reel him in, chilled and dripping.
- First half
In what book does a revered monk walk barefoot through deep mud to comfort waiting families?
✓ Answer
All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat
Kruba Boonchum is a forest meditation monk sometimes called the monk of the three nations because he walks between Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos. He prays with the parents and tells them their sons are just fine and will come out in a few days, and his calm steadies everyone.
- First half
In what book does a roadside vehicle look like a rocket ship crossed with a drag racer?
✓ Answer
All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat
Thanet Natisri spots it parked on the way back to Sai Tong pond and makes his driver slow down. It turns out to be a homemade super-pump built by farmers from central Thailand who had waited days at the roadside hoping someone would use them.
- Second half
In what book do two divers leave behind flashlights as the only gift they have to give?
✓ Answer
All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat
Rick Stanton and John Volanthen had no food to hand over before diving back out, so they gave up their lights. The boys hugged them, which the author explains is unusual in Thailand with a stranger and showed that the two men already felt like family.
- Second half
In what book do volunteers knock on doors at three in the morning to find a hair dryer?
✓ Answer
All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat
Chaiyon Srisamoot, called Ay, ran a volunteer crew that tracked down whatever the rescue needed, no matter the hour. Someone needed a hair dryer in the middle of the night to set quick drying glue, so out they went.
- Near the end
In what book does a doctor first insist, "Sedation is out of the question"?
✓ Answer
All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat
Dr. Richard Harris is an anesthetist from Adelaide who is also a world class cave diver. He thought putting children to sleep in a dark, wet cave was impossible until he arrived and saw the conditions, and then he reluctantly agreed it was the safest plan.
