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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSOscar Aberdeen is twelve years old, and he has lived at the Sunny Days Retirement Community since he was three days old, the only survivor of a car accident that supposedly killed his parents on the drive home from the hospital. Raised by his grandfather among dozens of elderly neighbors he calls family, Oscar has been to forty-nine funerals and knows exactly how to run one. When the community's beloved longtime owner dies and his son takes over, announcing rent increases that could push Oscar and his grandfather out within weeks, a secretive, foul-mouthed new resident named Jimmy Deluca makes Oscar a strange offer. Help sneak him out of Sunny Days, and Jimmy will hand over enough money to save their home. What should be a quick, quiet favor turns into a wild, all-day escape with Jimmy and the sharp-tongued granddaughter of the home's late owner, and Oscar starts to wonder just how much of Jimmy's story he can actually trust.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Busted
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 Busted. 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 has a boy lived in a retirement community since he was three days old?
✓ Answer
Busted by Dan Gemeinhart
Oscar's grandfather Pops was raising him alone and already lived at Sunny Days, so that is where Oscar went straight from the hospital. Growing up with fifty grandparents is exactly why he talks and dresses like a man from 1955.
- First half
In what book does a boy in a suit and tie shop alone for a bra and panties?
✓ Answer
Busted by Dan Gemeinhart
Natasha climbs into the getaway car still soaking wet in a swimsuit, so the first stop is a mall. Oscar ends up at the register with a bra, underwear, and a very suspicious cashier, and tells her it is for his sister's birthday.
- First half
In what book does an old man tell a boy to "squeeze the orange" and live a little?
✓ Answer
Busted by Dan Gemeinhart
Jimmy shoves his plate across the table and pushes Oscar to taste the oxtail instead of playing it safe. The phrase becomes the traveling motto of the whole road trip, right alongside Natasha's YOLO.
- Second half
In what book does a girl explain her buzz cut by saying she had cancer and beat it?
✓ Answer
Busted by Dan Gemeinhart
Natasha gives Oscar the basics and then refuses to discuss it, because she hates being treated like a walking tragedy. It also explains the medical debt that pushed her dad to take the job running Sunny Days.
- Second half
In what book does a hairless cat climb a running boy like a tree and claw his neck?
✓ Answer
Busted by Dan Gemeinhart
Oscar sprints down a dark alley with one shoe missing while the furious owner of the stolen car chases him. Mr. Buttercup panics and ends up clinging to his neck, leaving Oscar's shirt polka-dotted with his own blood.
- Near the end
In what book does a boy sing Frank Sinatra in a dive bar to distract two car thieves?
✓ Answer
Busted by Dan Gemeinhart
Oscar picks "That's Life" and ends up dancing on the thieves' table while Natasha lifts the keys from a jacket. It is the moment the uptight rule follower finally lets himself be a showman.
