Beyond the Bright Sea

Every 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 Beyond the Bright Sea. Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.

1. 1

   Early in the book

   In what book is a girl named for the hoarse cawing sound she made as a baby?

   ✓ Answer

   Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk

   Osh tells the narrator he named her Crow because she cawed over and over when he found her in the skiff. The name also fits her dark hair, the curve of her nose, and the small feather-shaped birthmark on her cheek.

2. 2

   First half

   In what book does a girl find a lamb and a feather carved on a cottage wall?

   ✓ Answer

   Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk

   While poking through the empty cottages on Penikese, the narrator notices a small lamb carved into the wall in one corner, with a tiny feather beside it. The two carvings echo the words in her ruined letter and her own birthmark.

3. 3

   First half

   In what book does a man call a sketch of a kidnapper "the spittin' image" of him?

   ✓ Answer

   Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk

   When Mr. Sloan sees Osh's sketch of his captor, he praises it as the spitting image, right down to the mean look in the eye. Osh refuses to come along to face the police himself, but his drawing speaks for him.

4. 4

   Second half

   In what book does a former orphanage worker say a boy once gave her a valentine made of shells?

   ✓ Answer

   Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk

   Mrs. Pelham tells Crow that Jason came back once with a sailor's valentine made of shells. The detail tells Crow he is alive and might still be reachable through the docks.

5. 5

   Second half

   In what book is a buried trunk packed with gold coins, ingots, and "the kind that queens wear" jewelry?

   ✓ Answer

   Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk

   When the trunk lid falls back on its hinges, Crow falls back too. Inside is a Captain Kidd-style hoard, more lavish than anything she imagined her mother could have left behind.

6. 6

   Near the end

   In what book do a girl and her guardian flee a man by swimming through a current along the shore?

   ✓ Answer

   Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk

   Osh hands Crow through the window beside her bed and they slip into the dark water together. Clinging to each other, they let the current carry them along Cuttyhunk before crawling onto the rocks.