BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSAnaya Riggs is a twelve-year-old on Salt Spring Island who has always been plagued by allergies to nearly everything: pollen, gluten, most foods, and half the months on the calendar. When a mysterious black plant shoots up overnight in the dead patch of her family's front yard, it turns out to be just the beginning. Within days, the alien-looking grass is everywhere on the island and spreading around the world, killing crops, resisting every herbicide, and releasing a cloud of pollen that sends most of the population into sneezing fits. Anaya notices something strange, though: she isn't sneezing at all, and neither are two of her classmates, the pretty and guarded Petra Sumner and the quiet foster kid Seth Robertson, who always wears long-sleeved shirts and sketches things no one else has ever seen.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Bloom
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 Bloom. 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 girl get splashed by rain and discover she isn't allergic to it?
✓ Answer
Bloom by Kenneth Oppel
Petra stumbles on a strange black sprout and rain hits her face. She waits for the hives, but nothing happens. She runs out into the storm and takes her first rainwater shower in three years, collecting bowls full to save.
- First half
In what book does a girl find a snakelike vine writhing inside her garbage bin?
✓ Answer
Bloom by Kenneth Oppel
Anaya hears hissing in the garbage bin and thinks it is a snake, but when she tips it over she finds a thick black vine twisting in knots. It traces back to the bag of soil she and her friends dug up from the school field, where a much worse plant is growing.
- First half
In what book are three kids told their bodies have "incredible natural defenses" against alien plants?
✓ Answer
Bloom by Kenneth Oppel
Dr. Stephanie Weber from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service tracks down the three kids who survived the school field. She tells them their bodies have unique abilities to resist the alien plants and asks to run tests so she can develop a vaccine.
- Second half
In what book are old arm scars revealed to be from feathers removed when a boy was three?
✓ Answer
Bloom by Kenneth Oppel
Seth tells Dr. Weber he was born with feathers growing from his arms, ten primary and twenty secondary, just like a bird's wing. He shows her the scars. Dr. Weber tells him her own infant son was born with the same condition.
- Second half
In what book is a man's cell phone yanked from his hand by writhing vines during a video call?
✓ Answer
Bloom by Kenneth Oppel
During the only video call the military gets through to Anaya's father, the vines snake down behind him and snatch the phone away, lifting it higher and higher until the screen goes dark with static.
- Near the end
In what book is a girl sealed inside a giant carnivorous plant with sharp spikes growing inward?
✓ Answer
Bloom by Kenneth Oppel
After Anaya is dumped inside the giant pit plant, its lips mash shut and long black spikes emerge from the walls and ceiling, threatening to impale her. She has to cut through the floor to sever the main vine.
