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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSThirteen-year-old Genesis Anderson has moved so many times that starting over feels like a permanent condition. When her family is evicted again, she lands in Farmington Hills, a mostly white suburb outside Detroit, where she enrolls in yet another new school and discovers something she never expected: a chorus teacher who hears real talent in her voice. But Genesis carries a heavier burden than instability. Her father's drinking and gambling have shaped a private list of reasons she hates herself, reasons that center on her very dark skin, her thick natural hair, and the conviction that she will never measure up to her lighter-skinned mother. As she tentatively forms friendships and works up the nerve to audition for the school talent show, Genesis is also secretly scrubbing her skin with lemon juice, soaking in bleach water, and ordering a skin-lightening cream online, trying to change the face she sees in the mirror.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Genesis Begins Again
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 Genesis Begins Again. 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 girl rub yogurt on her face nightly hoping to lighten her skin?
✓ Answer
Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams
Genesis read that yogurt acid can lighten skin and tries it for fifteen minutes nightly for three months with no result. It is one of many failed attempts that includes milk, baking soda, and eventually lemons.
- First half
In what book does a great-grandfather use a brown paper bag to reject a daughter's boyfriend?
✓ Answer
Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams
Grandma tells Genesis about her sister Elizabeth, whose new beau was too dark to pass the brown paper bag test. Their papa, Genesis's great-grandpa, silently dropped the bag in Elizabeth's lap, exposing the colorism running through Genesis's family.
- First half
In what book does a girl find three liquor bottles hidden above the cabinet and pour them out?
✓ Answer
Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams
After reading a past due rent notice from Todd, Genesis finds Absolut vodka, Hennessy, and Crown Royal in a cabinet. In a rage, she empties all three down the kitchen sink, then hides the bottles under the deck.
- Second half
In what book does a girl earn a 76 percent and kiss her math test?
✓ Answer
Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams
After weeks of tutoring with Troy, the narrator scores 76 percent on Mr. Benjamin's test. She thanks the teacher over and over, kisses the page, and races out to share the news with her tutor.
- Second half
In what book does a girl carefully arrange her olives so they do not touch the meatballs?
✓ Answer
Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams
At dinner, Sophia keeps her food separated and flicks an olive back to the other olives when it rolls toward a meatball. It is one of the early signs of her OCD that the narrator slowly comes to understand.
- Near the end
In what book does a girl's scalp burn from a chemical relaxer at a friend's house?
✓ Answer
Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams
Yvette tells her the tingling means the relaxer is working, but the narrator finally leaps up shouting that her head is on fire. She ducks her head into the tub while Belinda helps wash out the cream.
