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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSTwelve-year-old Sara Martinez is a foster kid and computer prodigy facing two and a half years in juvenile detention after hacking into New York City's juvenile justice system to expose abusive foster parents. Just before her court date, a mysterious British man with multiple fake passports and burn scars on his hand sweeps in as her new attorney, gets her sentence redirected to a fictional facility from a Roald Dahl book, and walks her out of the courthouse free. His name is Mother, he is a supposedly dead MI6 spy, and he is offering Sara a seat on a secret team of young agents who operate out of a converted Scottish manor house called FARM. With a mission to Paris weeks away and one team member suddenly gone, Mother needs Sara's hacking skills badly, and she has to decide whether to trust a man she has known for less than a day.
Free Battle of the Books questions for City Spies
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 City Spies. 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 man name a fictional detention center after a school from a Roald Dahl book?
✓ Answer
City Spies by James Ponti
Thinking fast in a courtroom, Mother invents a juvenile facility using Crunchem Hall, the name of the terrible school from Matilda. He bets that neither Judge Pancake nor the prosecutor will remember it from a children's book, and he turns out to be right.
- First half
In what book does a girl figure out a former teammate's identity from a shampoo bottle labeled "Char"?
✓ Answer
City Spies by James Ponti
On her very first night at FARM, Brooklyn pieces together clues about Charlotte, the person she is replacing. She finds three shampoo bottles in the bathroom she shares with Sydney and Kat, one labeled "CHAR" with a marker. Combined with a keylogger found in her desk drawer, she deduces the full story and stuns everyone at dinner.
- First half
In what book does a student take a principal's car apart and reassemble it inside the school library?
✓ Answer
City Spies by James Ponti
When Dr. Cooper cancels the Robotics and Engineering Club and replaces it with a beauty pageant, Sydney responds with an elaborate prank. She puts a note on the windshield that reads, 'Bet you'd like an engineer now, wouldn't you?'
- Second half
In what book does a famous soccer player turned actor keep forgetting his one line while filming a movie?
✓ Answer
City Spies by James Ponti
At Pinewood Studios just outside London, a world-famous footballer starring in a spy thriller called Queen and Country cannot remember his single line. The director is furious, and Tru, the team's MI6 supervisor who works as the film's technical advisor, remarks that the movie's title is literally half the line he keeps forgetting.
- Second half
In what book do characters enter underground tunnels through a place once called the Gate of Hell?
✓ Answer
City Spies by James Ponti
To reach a secret entrance to Asgard, Brooklyn, Sydney, and Paris descend into the catacombs beneath Paris. They enter through Place Denfert-Rochereau, the historic southern gate of old Paris that was once called the Barrière d'Enfer, or Gate of Hell.
- Near the end
In what book does a girl use a computer on wheels called a crash cart to hack a mainframe?
✓ Answer
City Spies by James Ponti
Inside Asgard's dimly lit server room filled with rows of glowing computers, Brooklyn finds a wheeled computer station with a keyboard and monitor. She patches it into the system, copies a virus from a flash drive, and activates it while Paris stands lookout at the door.
