BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSDion Leonard, an Australian ultramarathon runner who lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, travels to northwest China in 2016 for a 155-mile, seven-day race through the Tian Shan mountains and the Gobi Desert, worried that it may be the last race of his life. After the first stage he notices a small, scruffy, sandy-colored stray begging runners for food at camp, and the next morning she is at his feet on the start line, biting playfully at his bright yellow gaiters. Mile after mile she keeps pace beside him, and he names her Gobi after the desert. Before the race ends, Dion decides he can't leave her behind and sets out to bring her home to Britain, which turns out to be far harder than he imagined. In this true story, told in his own words, Dion also looks back on his difficult childhood in Australia and on how running, and his wife Lucja, changed his life.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Finding Gobi: A Little Dog with a Very Big Heart
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 Finding Gobi: A Little Dog with a Very Big Heart. 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 pooch take playful bites at a runner's bright yellow gaiters during the start countdown?
✓ Answer
Finding Gobi: A Little Dog with a Very Big Heart by Dion Leonard
On the morning of stage two, the same dog Dion saw begging at the campfire the night before stands at his feet, staring at his bright yellow gaiters. As the countdown runs, she sniffs them and takes a playful bite, and once the race starts she dances around his feet as if it is the best fun ever.
- First half
In what book does a runner propose adding fifteen minutes to a rival's time, but officials add only five?
✓ Answer
Finding Gobi: A Little Dog with a Very Big Heart by Dion Leonard
After Dion reports Tommy for skipping the boulder section, a race organizer talks with the other runners, the checkpoint staff, and Tommy. Dion thinks fifteen minutes is fair, but Tommy has just five minutes added, and when Dion goes to see him, Tommy is in tears and says he didn't see the markers.
- First half
In what book does a not-quite-house-trained pet make herself at home in a museum's fake rain forest?
✓ Answer
Finding Gobi: A Little Dog with a Very Big Heart by Dion Leonard
When the sandstorm forces the organizers to abandon camp, the runners spend their rest day in a strange little museum full of fossils and habitat displays. Gobi makes herself at home in the rain forest section, and Dion can't help laughing when she relieves herself under one of the fake trees.
- Second half
In what book does a glamorous hairdresser join a search with a poodle wearing a summer skirt?
✓ Answer
Finding Gobi: A Little Dog with a Very Big Heart by Dion Leonard
Mae-Lin, apparently a hairdresser, carries herself like a 1950s movie star as she helps the volunteers search Urumqi's streets for Gobi. Her poodle comes along with blue dye on its ears and a summer skirt around its waist.
- Second half
In what book does a hidden pet sit in a hotel tub, head cocked, watching a housekeeper clean?
✓ Answer
Finding Gobi: A Little Dog with a Very Big Heart by Dion Leonard
Dion sneaks downstairs for a quick breakfast and comes back to discover his room door open and Gobi nowhere in sight. She is in the bathtub watching the housekeeper wipe the counter, so Dion hands the housekeeper a 100-yuan note and mimes that she shouldn't say anything.
- Near the end
In what book do a man and his pet love street crepes stuffed with egg and crispy fried wonton?
✓ Answer
Finding Gobi: A Little Dog with a Very Big Heart by Dion Leonard
Along the canal path in Beijing, Dion and Gobi get to know the food stalls where construction workers gather on their breaks. Their favorite is jianbing, which Dion calls a Beijing burrito, and they can't get enough of it.
