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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSIt is 1913 in northern Mexico, and twelve-year-old Petra Luna has been holding her family together since her father was forced into the Federales army and her mother died in childbirth. Petra chops and sells firewood to feed her little sister Amelia, baby brother Luisito, and aging grandmother Abuelita, while clinging to a dream her illiterate world calls impossible: learning to read. When federal soldiers burn their village to the ground, Petra leads her family into the desert with nothing but a small ax, a piece of coal her father once called a baby diamond, and a promise she made to keep them safe, all while the violence of the Mexican Revolution closes in around them.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna
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 Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna. 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 young soldier defy orders to kill a family and burn their home?
✓ Answer
Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna by Alda P. Dobbs
A boy soldier no older than fifteen warns Petra that he has orders to kill her family. Instead he lights the fire from the front of the hut and signals them to flee out the back, telling them to head north and find a train.
- First half
In what book does a girl collapse in rage at a three way signpost because she cannot read?
✓ Answer
Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna by Alda P. Dobbs
After days of desert walking, Petra finds an old signpost with three white arrows pointing in three different directions. She recognizes only the letters from her own name and curses herself for not asking Adeline to teach her words like train or station.
- First half
In what book does a woman in a purple scarf with two pistols rescue a girl from begging?
✓ Answer
Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna by Alda P. Dobbs
While Petra begs for coins to save her brother, a woman soldier wearing leather pants, a wool jacket, two pistols, and a distinctive purple scarf approaches her. The captain offers to take her to a doctor at the rebel camp.
- Second half
In what book does a captain offer a twelve-year-old girl one peso a day to join the rebels?
✓ Answer
Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna by Alda P. Dobbs
Marietta offers Petra a soldier's pay of one peso per day, plus fifty centavos extra during battles.
- Second half
In what book does a family crawl on hands and knees across a train bridge in a thunderstorm?
✓ Answer
Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna by Alda P. Dobbs
With only a small oil lamp, the girls and their grandmother crawl across slippery crossties with Amelia clinging to her sister's back.
- Near the end
In what book does a sister tell her sibling a hummingbird is their dead mother watching over them?
✓ Answer
Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna by Alda P. Dobbs
Petra tells Amelia about Huitzilopochtli sending women who died in childbirth back as hummingbirds, comforting her sister.
