BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSIn Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, red-haired Isa de Smit looks after her father, a gifted painter who copies famous artists in the garret, and what is left of the family's art gallery. Three years of taxes are due, so Isa ages one of her father's drawings with coffee grounds and curtain dust and sells it to Nazi buyers as a Rembrandt. Then her friend Truus, now in the Resistance, needs money for a bribe to smuggle Jewish children out of the city, and Isa decides to fool the Nazis again, for a much bigger price. But a young German soldier named Michel Lange saw that her Rembrandt was fake, and he knows where she lives. What he wants for his silence is a place to hide from his own army.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Artifice
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 Artifice. 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 gray-bearded painter wear one tartan slipper and one paint-flecked scarlet slipper?
✓ Answer
Artifice by Sharon Cameron
Isa's father, Theodoor de Smit, is sitting at the kitchen table in his smoking jacket and mismatched slippers, a look he enjoys as much as playing the charming courtier. His long gray hair and pointed silver beard complete the picture of an artist who lives mostly in his garret.
- First half
In what book does a forger bake a canvas in a brick cellar oven warmed by an electric foot heater?
✓ Answer
Artifice by Sharon Cameron
Using the key Michel returned, Isa slips down into Van Meegeren's cellar and finds an old brick oven with a modern heater inside, the kind meant for wet feet on a cold day, with a thermostat set to low. A canvas lies flat on a grate above it, baking.
- First half
In what book does a fake cousin claim he sabotaged docks by dropping engine parts into the sea?
✓ Answer
Artifice by Sharon Cameron
Pretending to be Isa's cousin, Michel tells Willem he worked the Rotterdam docks, dropping engine parts into the sea every time his supervisor turned his back, and came to the city by boat under a canvas tarp. Isa thinks he is overplaying his hand and fumbles a plate, which shatters against the counter.
- Second half
In what book does a red-haired seller demand three million guilders for a fake from a Nazi art agent?
✓ Answer
Artifice by Sharon Cameron
At Oostermeer, Isa stuns both Hofer and Michel by asking three million guilders for her father's forged Christ with the Adulteress. Hofer says his client will likely pay 1.9 million, and Isa then insists on a ten percent deposit with a contract.
- Second half
In what book does a girl climb a coal pile to pass a rubbish sack out a half-moon window?
✓ Answer
Artifice by Sharon Cameron
To sneak her father's painting out of the Stedelijk, Isa hides it in a canvas bag stuffed with old newspapers so it looks like a sack of rubbish. She climbs the coal pile in her stockings and hands the sack up through the coal window on Potterstraat to Michel.
- Near the end
In what book does a brick arch with iron-nailed doors turn out to be a facade hiding a courtyard?
✓ Answer
Artifice by Sharon Cameron
Trapped in the lane with soldiers nearby, Isa pounds on iron-nailed double doors until a young woman lifts the bar and lets them in. Inside is a hushed courtyard of autumn-gold grass, and Isa realizes the brick archway was never more than a facade.
