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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSTen-year-old Della Roberts has spent most of her life learning to be tough. She and her sixteen-year-old sister Suki grew up with a mother lost to meth addiction, then spent years living with a man named Clifton who was never their real guardian. When Della shows up at a new school wearing new purple velvet high-tops and a fresh tattoo, she and Suki are settling into a foster home run by a no-nonsense woman named Francine, and Clifton is in jail because of evidence Suki captured on her phone. Della tells her own story in first person, using the word "snow" in place of the words she cannot write, and she promises to tell the whole thing, though she warns that the hard parts are coming.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Fighting Words
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 Fighting Words. 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 ten year old narrator named Delicious but goes by a shorter nickname?
✓ Answer
Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Della's full name is Delicious Nevaeh Roberts, but she always tries to get teachers to call her Della before they say Delicious out loud. She hates the name because kids tease her about it.
- First half
In what book does a foster mother compare a teenager to a pressure cooker about to explode?
✓ Answer
Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Francine tells Suki that bottling up trauma is like a pressure cooker with no release valve. Suki dismisses the comparison as stupid, but Francine insists therapy would help.
- First half
In what book do two friends on playground swings draw circles in the dirt with their toes?
✓ Answer
Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Della and Nevaeh sit side by side on swings during recess. As they confess that Nevaeh had to live in a car and Della is in foster care, each draws a circle in the dirt with her toe.
- Second half
In what book does a therapist hand a kid a paper of cartoon faces to name her feelings?
✓ Answer
Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Dr. Fremont gives Della a sheet of labeled cartoon faces. Della keeps circling feelings like sad, scared, lonely, guilt, ashamed, and strong, until she has identified a huge tangle of emotions.
- Second half
In what book does a girl punch a classmate named Trevor in the gut after he pinches her?
✓ Answer
Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Trevor pinches Della's back during recess, the way he pinches all the girls. Della whirls around and slugs him hard. She gets in-school suspension while Trevor plays it off as an accident.
- Near the end
In what book does a girl color a wolf in greens and yellows for a basketball coach?
✓ Answer
Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
After buying the wolf coloring book, Della picks colors for everyone she loves. She does a green and yellow wolf for Tony, a red and brown one for Maybelline, blues and purples for Suki, and a rainbow one for herself.
