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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSEric Hayes is the new kid in seventh grade, having just moved from Ohio to Bellport, Long Island, with his mother and younger brother, Rudy. Shooting baskets alone behind his new middle school one afternoon, he watches a boy come stumbling across the field like he is running for his life, then meets Griffin Connelly, a good-looking, easy-talking boy who seems to know everyone and runs with a small pack of friends. Griffin pulls Eric into his group, and for the first time since the move, Eric feels like he has somewhere to belong. But Eric keeps noticing things that bother him: jokes that go too far, a picked-on kid named David Hallenback who never quite gets left alone, and small cracks in Griffin's charm that hint at something colder underneath. As Eric settles into his new school and starts to figure out who his new friends really are, he has to decide what kind of person he wants to be when things get ugly, someone who watches, or someone who does something about it.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Bystander
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 Bystander. 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 new kid get one foul shot to keep his own basketball?
✓ Answer
Bystander by James Preller
Griffin proposes a deal where Eric keeps his basketball if he makes one foul shot and loses it if he misses. Eric throws an air ball, but Griffin rolls the ball back to him anyway and says he is disappointed Eric missed.
- First half
In what book does a second-grader discover twenty-seven dollars missing from his ceramic baseball bank?
✓ Answer
Bystander by James Preller
The night of Griffin's visit, Rudy tearfully finds that all his birthday money is gone, and both he and his mom look at Eric. Eric insists he never touched it, then checks his father's CDs and finds that one of them is missing too.
- First half
In what book does a tired golden retriever refuse to fetch, letting the ball stay lost forever?
✓ Answer
Bystander by James Preller
Eric and Mary take Ginger, a dog Eric walks for the Martins, to a dog park and throw an old tennis ball for her again and again. When Ginger finally flops down exhausted, she just watches the next throw sail away, and Eric knows it is time to go.
- Second half
In what book does a teacher describe volunteers flipping thirty switches in Stanley Milgram's shock experiment?
✓ Answer
Bystander by James Preller
Mr. Scofield explains that twenty-six of forty volunteers kept giving what they thought were painful shocks to an actor just because a scientist told them to. The image of the man pleading for help sticks in Eric's head, and he can't shake the feeling that it connects to him.
- Second half
In what book does a picked-on boy lure a classmate into a pet cemetery as a trap?
✓ Answer
Bystander by James Preller
David Hallenback says he has something important to show Eric and leads him into the Final Rest Pet Cemetery. Eric thinks David is finally trusting him, but Griffin and his crowd are waiting, and David has switched sides.
- Near the end
In what book is a boy's locker searched after a student reports he has a knife?
✓ Answer
Bystander by James Preller
Principal Morris pulls Eric out of social studies because someone reported a weapon, and nothing is found. The report stays confidential, so Eric never learns for sure who made it, though he wonders if Griffin put someone up to it.
