BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSBen Redd is twelve, the quarterback of his youth football team, and the kind of kid who throws up before games he cares about. His dad, John Redd, a former NFL lineman, coaches the team alongside Ben's two older brothers, Rich and Raymond, and the whole family builds its year around football, boat rides on the lake, and Sunday dinners together. Then Ben's dad comes home from a doctor's visit with news that changes everything. He has ALS, a disease that is slowly taking away his strength and his ability to speak clearly, and he refuses to stop coaching. As the season opens, Ben has to handle his own nerves on the field, a new teammate named Thea who nobody expected and who turns out to be one of the best players on the team, and a growing fear about what is happening to his father, all while trying to lead his team toward a championship game against their biggest rival, Penn Yan.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Final Season
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 Final Season. 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 father's fist on the table make the silverware dance and sing?
✓ Answer
Final Season by Tim Green
Ben's mom announces at dinner that he is done with football, and his dad erupts. He insists he is still coaching and that Ben can play quarterback if he wants to, and Ben's mom gives in for one year only.
- First half
In what book does a boy daydream in midair and smack the lake sideways?
✓ Answer
Final Season by Tim Green
Ben lets go of the rope swing and starts replaying his dad's argument about head hits, and everything goes dark when he lands wrong. Tuna flips him over in the water and tows him to the shale by his life jacket.
- First half
In what book does a coach kneel by a crying girl and tell her she is pretty without hair?
✓ Answer
Final Season by Tim Green
Ben's dad nearly tips over getting down beside Thea after the braid is cut, and Raymond has to catch him and help him back up. He promises her mother that nothing like it will ever happen again, then gives the whole team a talk about kindness.
- Second half
In what book is an older brother's secret cure for game night nerves playing Xbox?
✓ Answer
Final Season by Tim Green
Ben expects Rich to hand over sleeping pills like the ones their dad once got in an NFL training camp. Instead Rich holds up a controller and says he played until he zonked out on the couch every single time.
- Second half
In what book does a girl scrape vomit off lucky gloves and hold one under a boy's nose?
✓ Answer
Final Season by Tim Green
Thea cleans Tuna's gloves using her finger like a squeegee and tells him a cow barn smells far worse. Tuna sniffs, gags, and throws up too, minutes before kickoff.
- Near the end
In what book does a coach arrive at halftime in a power wheelchair with a portable ventilator?
✓ Answer
Final Season by Tim Green
John Redd hounds the hospital staff until they release him early so he can reach the championship game against Penn Yan. He drives the chair with a joystick, breathes through a hose running from the ventilator strapped behind him, and coaches the rest of the game with a grease board.
