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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSWhen a German bombing raid destroys his London apartment in 1941, fourteen-year-old Nick Freestone is sent to live with his father on the family's teak plantation deep in the jungles of Burma. Nick has dreamed of this reunion his whole life, eager to learn about the timber elephants and the plantation his great-great-grandfather built from nothing. But he barely has time to get his footing before Japanese forces advance on Burma, and Nick's safe haven turns dangerous. What begins as a homecoming quickly becomes a test of everything Nick has, as the war he thought he'd left behind closes in from a new direction.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Elephant Run
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 Elephant Run. 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 boy in 1941 London survive after a thermite bomb destroys his apartment during the blitz?
✓ Answer
Elephant Run by Roland Smith
Nick Freestone is in London during the German bombing raids of 1941. After a thermite incendiary destroys his apartment building, his mother decides to send him to his father in Burma for safety. This opening moment sets the whole plot of the novel in motion.
- First half
In what book does a boy hide behind a snag in a river watching his family being taken prisoner?
✓ Answer
Elephant Run by Roland Smith
When the Japanese ambush the riverside camp, Nick is swimming. He works his way behind a snag in the river, where a vulture had earlier been eating a dead monkey. He watches helplessly as the soldiers march his father, Indaw, and Mya away.
- First half
In what book does a Japanese sergeant write a haiku in English about a cricket under a dew-covered leaf?
✓ Answer
Elephant Run by Roland Smith
Sergeant Sonji surprises Nick by being a gardener and haiku master rather than a fierce soldier. As they walk to Hawk's Nest, Sonji composes a haiku about a cricket beneath a leaf and writes it for Nick with a stick in the dust.
- Second half
In what book does a colonel snap a houseman's bamboo cane in two over his knee?
✓ Answer
Elephant Run by Roland Smith
After Nick's escape is discovered, Colonel Nagayoshi takes Bukong's cruel cane, strikes him with it, then breaks it in half. He blames Bukong for driving the boy away with his frequent beatings.
- Second half
In what book do escaping children watch a distant horizon turn red from a planned explosion?
✓ Answer
Elephant Run by Roland Smith
Hilltop intentionally slows their departure so they can witness the explosion. Magwe destroyed the airfield with stored bombs and ammunition, framing it as an accident, to force the Japanese to bring his mahouts back home.
- Near the end
In what book do shaved-headed novices hide in a trapdoor pit under a bamboo floor?
✓ Answer
Elephant Run by Roland Smith
Indaw shows the children a trick he learned from the Sergeant Major. A trapdoor under the mat hides a cramped space below the house. They squeeze in to listen as Captain Moto interrogates Hilltop above them.
