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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSWhen twelve-year-old Jack Flagg discovers that his Aunt Arabella is nearly bankrupt and will soon have to sell the family's grand old Boston house, he makes a bold decision: he and the family butler, Praiseworthy, will stow away on a ship and race to the California gold fields to make their fortune. The year is 1849, the Gold Rush is on, and the two partners climb out of their potato barrels on the second day at sea to boldly introduce themselves to the ship's thunderous captain. What follows is a wild, funny, and sometimes dangerous journey of 15,000 miles around Cape Horn, through the mining camps of the Sierra Nevada, and into a world of road agents, claim jumpers, grizzly bears, and colorful characters who will give the boy and his butler nicknames they never expected.
Free Battle of the Books questions for By the Great Horn Spoon!
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 By the Great Horn Spoon!. 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 butler unfold himself from a barrel and put on his bowler hat and white gloves?
✓ Answer
By the Great Horn Spoon! by Sid Fleischman
Praiseworthy emerges from his stowaway barrel on the second day at sea, brushes off his bowler hat, hooks his umbrella on his arm, and pulls on his spotless white gloves. The image sets up his calm, dignified character that holds steady through the whole adventure.
- First half
In what book does a captain burn the lumber from his own cargo hold to win a race?
✓ Answer
By the Great Horn Spoon! by Sid Fleischman
Out of coal and falling behind, Captain Swain orders the thousands of feet of lumber in the cargo hold to be fed into the firebox. Praiseworthy is the one who reminds him it is there. The wood sparks fly out the funnel as the ship passes the rival to win.
- First half
In what book is gold dust panned out of the trimmings clipped from a miner's beard?
✓ Answer
By the Great Horn Spoon! by Sid Fleischman
When Praiseworthy gives Quartz Jackson a haircut on the hotel porch, Jack catches every snip in a washpan. Quartz Jackson then teaches Jack to pan the cuttings, and he tells Jack to keep all the gold that settles at the bottom.
- Second half
In what book does a miner accidentally shoot a hole through a stranger's washbasin then offer him coffee?
✓ Answer
By the Great Horn Spoon! by Sid Fleischman
Pitch-pine Billy Pierce mistakes Praiseworthy's new tin washpan for his own and shoots at him to defend it. When he realizes his mistake, he invites the strangers back to his tent for a cup of his fearsome jamoka coffee.
- Second half
In what book does a boy find a gold nugget the size of an acorn tangled in grass roots?
✓ Answer
By the Great Horn Spoon! by Sid Fleischman
Jack's yell carries across the ravine and miners come running from every direction. The lump becomes known as Jamoka Jack's Nugget and gets passed around to be held up to the sun and admired.
- Near the end
In what book does a scoundrel sit on a horse with a noose around his neck waiting to be hanged?
✓ Answer
By the Great Horn Spoon! by Sid Fleischman
When Jack and Praiseworthy arrive at Shirt-tail Camp, they find Cut-Eye Higgins about to be strung up for horse stealing. They need the map he carries, so Praiseworthy invents a clever scheme involving a fake toothache to halt the hanging.
