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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSTwelve-year-old Timothy is sentenced to a year of house arrest and a court-ordered journal after stealing a wallet from a grocery store. The reason behind the theft is something Timothy can barely explain: exhausted from a night of helping care for his baby brother Levi, who breathes through a plastic tube in his neck and needs constant medical attention, Timothy spotted a wallet and grabbed it, using a stolen credit card to pay for a month of Levi's medication before the police caught up with him. Now Timothy writes to his probation officer James and court-appointed psychologist Mrs. Bainbridge, his two main audiences, trying to make sense of a year in which he's stuck at home, his dad is gone, his mom is stretched impossibly thin, and Levi's health hangs in the balance.
Free Battle of the Books questions for House Arrest
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 House Arrest. 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 steal a wallet while everyone looks at a car crash outside a grocery store?
✓ Answer
House Arrest by K.A. Holt
Timothy describes the moment he stole the wallet. The owner and the store manager both turned to look at a car crash through the window, and Timothy grabbed the wallet from next to the credit card swiper. He used the stolen card to pay for his baby brother's medicine.
- First half
In what book does a boy catch himself humming a baby sign language show's theme song at school?
✓ Answer
House Arrest by K.A. Holt
Timothy stops in his tracks in the hallway at school, hands over his mouth, realizing he's been humming the Baby Signing Adventure theme song and enjoying it. He'd previously said the show was worse than juvie, but Levi loves it so much that it has grown on him.
- First half
In what book does a boy realize his father leaving his phone behind meant he was leaving for good?
✓ Answer
House Arrest by K.A. Holt
Timothy's dad once called his phone "the heart of the family" because everything circulated through it. When Dad went to the pharmacy and left his phone on the counter with a dying battery, Timothy should have known. If he could leave the heart of the family, he could leave them too.
- Second half
In what book does a boy write letters to a doctor in Ohio begging him to fix a baby's trachea?
✓ Answer
House Arrest by K.A. Holt
Timothy repeatedly emails Dr. Sawyer in Cincinnati, hoping the surgeon will agree to operate on Levi's narrowed airway. He gets increasingly frustrated when the doctor doesn't write back, even quoting Star Wars to beg for help.
- Second half
In what book does a boy rewrite a nursery rhyme about a nurse with "squinty eyes and big loud sighs"?
✓ Answer
House Arrest by K.A. Holt
Timothy rewrites "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary" to mock Mary, the day nurse he cannot stand. He keeps the line about the garden and swaps in her squinty eyes, big loud sighs, and nursing notes all in a row. It captures how much he resents her treatment of Levi.
- Near the end
In what book does a probation officer lift a boy's entire bed over his head while helping a family move?
✓ Answer
House Arrest by K.A. Holt
James helps Timothy's family move into their new apartment and shows off impressive strength by lifting Timothy's whole bed over his head. Timothy calls it "James's Gun Show" and is genuinely amazed.
