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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSBrownstone is a graphic novel set in the summer of 1995. Fourteen-year-old Almudena's mother, a dancer, is leaving to star in an international touring dance production, so Almudena is dropped off for three months with Xavier, the father she has never met. He speaks little English, she speaks almost no Spanish, and his city brownstone is a gutted wreck he is turning into apartments, so her summer quickly becomes demolition work with a pry bar and safety goggles. To talk to him at all, she has to rely on Idola, the next-door neighbor, who translates for them and lectures Almudena about her Guatemalan heritage. Not everyone on the block is welcoming. Queralt, who runs the corner bodega, becomes a friend, but Idola's moody son Beto mocks Almudena and nicknames her "Off-Brand." And on the second floor of her father's house is a locked room she has been told to stay out of.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Brownstone
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 Brownstone. 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 newcomer set a donut on a man sleeping on the sidewalk?
✓ Answer
Brownstone by Samuel Teer
Walking away from the bodega with her donuts, Almudena crouches beside a man asleep on the sidewalk and sets one on him, saying "Here, mister. This'll help some." He wakes up, says "¡Gracias!", and happily eats it.
- First half
In what book is a street play-fight drawn as a fighting video game screen?
✓ Answer
Brownstone by Samuel Teer
On the way to the bodega, Tomaz charges at Xavier and the panel turns into a game screen labeled TOMAZ VS XAVIER, complete with "CRITICAL HIT!" Xavier topples back laughing as his dollar bills fly, and Tomaz grabs them, announcing "A winner is you!"
- First half
In what book does a father describe an altar figure as "bad man, but also a saint"?
✓ Answer
Brownstone by Samuel Teer
Standing at the altar, Xavier explains the Maximón figure in the English he has, and Almudena asks, "So, he's two things?" By the end of the scene she sees that, to her father, Jesus and Maximón "pair together to make something new," and she thinks, "I am that."
- Second half
In what book does a sobbing woman throw her arms around a bodega owner she has feuded with?
✓ Answer
Brownstone by Samuel Teer
While everyone waits at the hospital for news about Xavier, Idola breaks down and hugs Queralt, the bodega owner she clashed with earlier in the summer. When someone says "We should plan something," Queralt asks "Together?" and Idola whispers "Sí."
- Second half
In what book does an arcade clerk lend a phone to a lost girl who knows no one's number?
✓ Answer
Brownstone by Samuel Teer
The arcade clerk puts a phone on the counter ("Like, no long-distance calls."), but Almudena realizes Xavier has no phone yet and she never learned Idola's number. The clerk suggests Queralt's bodega, but the sign on its door says "Closed today."
- Near the end
In what book do boys in matching pink vests strike boy-band poses to open a girl's quince dance?
✓ Answer
Brownstone by Samuel Teer
After Beto explains that he was sworn to secrecy about the party, he pulls Almudena onto the floor, where the other dancers strike poses as he announces her quince dance. Almudena laughs as they dance around her, narrating "This is so embarrassing!"
