BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSEleven-year-old Joe Oak lives with his grandmother in a rundown mobile home called The Overripe Banana, doing math in his head to stretch every dollar and every scrap of food while she cleans houses and offices to keep them fed. His mother comes and goes without warning, a pattern Joe calls "the Itch," and when she's gone he leans on his grandmother, his best friends Hakeem and Nick, and Uncle Frankie, who runs the mobile home park and treats everyone in it like family. Joe copes by doodling superheroes in his notebook and measuring his life against the comic books he loves, since even Superman has an origin story built out of hard moments. But Joe's world runs on and-thens and BOOMs, the sudden turns that change everything, and when the next one hits, he has to figure out how much a kid can carry by himself, and when it's finally time to let someone else carry it too.
Free Battle of the Books questions for And Then, Boom!
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 And Then, Boom!. 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 little boy chase his mother's car on a Big Wheel?
✓ Answer
And Then, Boom! by Lisa Fipps
This is the first time Joe remembers his mom leaving. She snapped at him for chasing a swallowtail butterfly on a sticky summer day, grabbed her purse and keys, and drove off while his short legs could not keep up.
- First half
In what book does a grandmother wave off her pain as "probably just a stomach bug"?
✓ Answer
And Then, Boom! by Lisa Fipps
Joe hears her groan in the night and offers a pain pill, tea, and the heating pad, but she tells him to go back to bed. He snuggles under her quilt anyway, and she tells him the towering oak outside is like them, standing and growing through storm after storm.
- First half
In what book do a mother and son guess what is in each funeral casserole as a nightly game?
✓ Answer
And Then, Boom! by Lisa Fipps
So many neighbors bring food after the funeral that Joe sees a completely full fridge for the first time in his life. He and his mom rake their forks through each dish like archaeologists, and whoever names it first gets out of doing the dishes.
- Second half
In what book does a man abandon a mother dog and her puppies beside a bowling ball pyramid?
✓ Answer
And Then, Boom! by Lisa Fipps
Joe watches a guy pull over by the Bowling Ball Pyramid, set a cardboard box on the grass, and speed off while the skinny mama dog chases the car. Joe knows exactly what being left behind feels like, so he decides right there to keep all three of them.
- Second half
In what book does a teacher open a school closet full of free clothes and shoes?
✓ Answer
And Then, Boom! by Lisa Fipps
Mrs. Swan started the Magic Closet so kids would not get bullied over what they wear. Joe walks out with jeans and brand new sneakers with the tags still on, and he keeps running his hands over them looking for holes that are not there.
- Near the end
In what book does a trapped boy smash his own window with a baseball bat to escape?
✓ Answer
And Then, Boom! by Lisa Fipps
The wind holds the front door shut and the back door is warped closed from the heat, so Joe uses the bat he kept for intruders to break out instead of in. He lands on the rusty glider outside, which collapses under him and wrecks his ankle.
