Call It Courage

Every 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 Call It Courage. Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.

1. 1

   Early in the book

   In what book does a dying woman press coconut meat to her child's lips before passing away?

   ✓ Answer

   Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry

   After being stranded at sea all night and washed up on a coral islet, Mafatu's mother managed to give her child sustaining coconut meat before she died. This traumatic event left Mafatu with a deep and lasting fear of the sea.

2. 2

   First half

   In what book does a boy discover an extinct volcanic peak rising three thousand feet from the sea?

   ✓ Answer

   Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry

   The island where Mafatu washed up was dominated by the cone of a long-extinct volcano, about three thousand feet tall. Having grown up on Hikueru, an atoll as flat as his hand, Mafatu had never seen anything like this towering peak.

3. 3

   First half

   In what book does a boy steal a spearhead from a sacred platform and run in terror through the jungle?

   ✓ Answer

   Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry

   Despite his terror, Mafatu forced himself to reach for a finely ground spearhead gleaming on the sacred platform. As he grabbed it, he dislodged a bone that fell with a deathly cold touch at his feet. He whipped around and ran, but kept the spearhead clutched in his fist.

4. 4

   Second half

   In what book does a boy ask his dog, "Where were you when I needed you? Off chasing butterflies"?

   ✓ Answer

   Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry

   After killing the boar single-handed, Mafatu teases Uri, who had run off and missed the whole fight. The dog hangs his head but brightens when Mafatu laughs and tells him to help drag the prize home.

5. 5

   Second half

   In what book does a boy stab at an octopus's eyes with a bone knife while trapped underwater?

   ✓ Answer

   Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry

   With the octopus gripping him in its tentacles and his air running out, Mafatu desperately stabs for one eye and then the other. The second blow goes true, the grip relaxes, and the boy rockets upward toward the light and air, barely making it to the surface alive.

6. 6

   Near the end

   In what book does a boy steer by a constellation called the Fishhook while fleeing pursuers across the open ocean?

   ✓ Answer

   Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry

   As night falls during his escape, Mafatu searches the stars for direction. He spots three familiar stars and recognizes the Fishhook of Maui, which he takes as a sign. He steers by those stars, and gradually the sound of his pursuers' chanting fades behind him.