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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSFrank and Ernestine Gilbreth grew up in a household run like a factory, because their father, Frank Sr., was one of America's leading efficiency experts, and their mother, Lillian, was an industrial psychologist. With twelve children packed into a big house in Montclair, New Jersey, Dad applied his motion-study methods to everything from how fast the kids could assemble when he whistled, to learning languages via Victrola records in the bathroom, to teaching touch typing with a white typewriter and a pencil rapped on your skull. The book follows the family through road trips in their temperamental Pierce Arrow named Foolish Carriage, summers at a converted lighthouse cottage on Nantucket called The Shoe, and a parade of grand experiments, family councils, and outrageous schemes, all narrated with warmth and humor by two of the children who lived through it.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Cheaper by the Dozen
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 Cheaper by the Dozen. 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 is the family car named Foolish Carriage?
✓ Answer
Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
Dad named the gray Pierce Arrow Foolish Carriage because he said it was foolish for any man with so many children to think he could afford a horseless carriage. The car had two bulb horns and a Klaxon, and Dad often blew all three at once.
- First half
In what book does a father reward each child for skipping a grade in school with a new bicycle?
✓ Answer
Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
Dad believed school was geared for children of average parents and pushed his kids to skip grades. Each successful skip earned a new bicycle, and older siblings studied frantically to avoid the disgrace of being passed by a younger one.
- First half
In what book do a five-year-old boy and a Chinese cook share frosting squeezed from a newspaper cornucopia?
✓ Answer
Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
Chew Wong iced the Mollers' cakes by squeezing frosting from a rolled newspaper, and let Bill open his mouth for a turn. Other Gilbreth kids who came begging got chased out of the kitchen with a skillet.
- Second half
In what book does a father paint the Morse code alphabet on the walls of a summer cottage?
✓ Answer
Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
Dad painted code on ceilings and walls, with key words like DAN-ger-ous, then hid rewards behind coded messages on the dining room table.
- Second half
In what book does a newsreel show a family racing through dinner at ten times normal speed?
✓ Answer
Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
A scheming cameraman shot the family eating in the yard with their diapered laundry behind them, then sped up the film. The kids saw it at the Dreamland Theater in Nantucket and were humiliated.
- Near the end
In what book does a boy stuff sofa pillows under his belt to imitate his own father?
✓ Answer
Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
Frank played Dad in family skits, leading the younger ones lockstep like a chain gang. Ernestine padded her bosom to play Mother, while Anne played a factory superintendent shrieking over a buzz saw.
