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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSTrevor Noah grows up in Johannesburg at the end of apartheid, born to a black Xhosa mother and a white Swiss father at a time when their relationship alone is a crime under South African law. Because he is not supposed to exist, he is kept hidden as a small child. His grandmother keeps him indoors whenever he stays at her house in Soweto, and his mother arranges for a neighbor to walk beside him in public so no one asks too many questions about his family. The book opens with a vivid example of how far she will go to protect him: when a minibus driver turns threatening one night, she throws nine-year-old Trevor out the sliding door and jumps out after him with his baby brother, and the two of them run for their lives. From there, Trevor tells the story of a childhood split between his grandmother's two-room house, quiet Sunday visits with his father, and his mother's fierce, funny, deeply religious household, held together by his gift for languages, since switching between English, Xhosa, Zulu, and more depending on who he is talking to lets him move between groups that would otherwise treat him as an outsider. He moves through a run of different schools, a beloved but independent-minded dog, his first awkward romances, and a series of increasingly clever teenage business schemes, all while home slowly becomes a harder place to be.
Free Battle of the Books questions for It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (Adapted for Young Readers)
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 It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (Adapted for Young Readers). 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 toddler gleefully chase his panicking father across a park?
✓ Answer
It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (Adapted for Young Readers) by Trevor Noah
Trevor's mother tells him that when he was a toddler, his father once came along to Joubert Park but had to walk a good distance away from them. Little Trevor ran after him screaming "Daddy!" and when people started looking, his father panicked and ran, which Trevor thought was a game.
- First half
In what book does a prankster remove the magnifying glass from every classroom's overhead projector?
✓ Answer
It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (Adapted for Young Readers) by Trevor Noah
Every teacher at Trevor's school uses an overhead projector to put notes up on the wall, so one day he goes around and takes the magnifying glass out of every projector in every classroom. He insists he wasn't breaking projectors, he was creating chaos to see how people reacted.
- First half
In what book does a dog secretly leap a five-foot wall each morning?
✓ Answer
It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (Adapted for Young Readers) by Trevor Noah
Day after day the family comes home to find Fufi waiting outside the gate, and nobody can figure out how she gets there. Home for the school holidays, Trevor finally catches her scaling the backyard wall and follows her on his bicycle to see where she goes.
- Second half
In what book does a puzzled friend tell a boy, "your date does not speak English"?
✓ Answer
It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (Adapted for Young Readers) by Trevor Noah
Bongani goes back to the car to try one last time to coax Babiki into the matric dance and discovers she does not speak English. Trevor realizes that in over a month of hanging out, Tom had done all the talking, so he and Babiki, who speaks only Pedi, had never had a single conversation.
- Second half
In what book does a high schooler whose mother never paid for McDonald's proudly order a large number one?
✓ Answer
It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (Adapted for Young Readers) by Trevor Noah
Trevor's mom would never pay for the family to eat at the McDonald's near their house, but once his CD business is making him real money, he walks up to the counter feeling very impressed with himself and orders a large, the biggest size they have. To Trevor, McDonald's tastes like America.
- Near the end
In what book does a mother dressed for Sunday tease her salon-going son, "the queen is back, baby"?
✓ Answer
It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (Adapted for Young Readers) by Trevor Noah
After the matric dance, Trevor keeps going back to the salon every week to have his hair straightened and cornrowed. When his mom gets dressed up for church, she teases him that he spent four hours at the salon to look like that, while she just took a shower.
