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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSIn 1795 Vermont, a sickly schoolmaster named Justin Morgan walks over a hundred miles to collect an old debt and comes home instead with two colts from Springfield, Massachusetts. One colt is big and promising; the other, a small reddish-brown animal everyone calls Little Bub, is written off as too runty to be worth much. Joel Goss, a boy who boards with the schoolmaster's family, has already fallen in love with Little Bub on the journey home, and when Joel is bound out as an apprentice to a local miller and innkeeper for seven years, his only bright spot is the time he spends each night gentling the little horse. As Little Bub grows into a horse who can outlift oxen, outsprint Thoroughbreds, and work all day without tiring, Joel begins to hope that one day the horse will truly be his.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Justin Morgan Had a Horse
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 Justin Morgan Had a Horse. 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 schoolmaster walk a hundred miles from Vermont to Massachusetts to collect a debt?
✓ Answer
Justin Morgan Had a Horse by Marguerite Henry
The singing teacher and his pupil Joel travel on foot from Randolph, Vermont to Springfield, Massachusetts to collect money owed to him by Farmer Abner Beane. The trip takes a heavy toll on his already failing health.
- First half
In what book does an apprentice eat sawdust, breathe sawdust, and find sawdust in his hair, ears, and boots?
✓ Answer
Justin Morgan Had a Horse by Marguerite Henry
Joel's daily life at the sawmill is a relentless grind of sawdust everywhere. The chapter captures how each day blurs into the next until only nighttime, with his colt, feels precious.
- First half
In what book does a small stallion drag a big pine log with three brawny men sitting astride it?
✓ Answer
Justin Morgan Had a Horse by Marguerite Henry
At the famous pulling bee at Chase's Mill, the little reddish-brown stallion not only moves a log no other animal could budge, but does it with three men sitting on it. The crowd erupts when the seemingly impossible feat succeeds.
- Second half
In what book does a stallion lose a front shoe at the first turn and still win the race?
✓ Answer
Justin Morgan Had a Horse by Marguerite Henry
In the second match against the long-legged black Sweepstakes, the little stallion's front shoe pinwheels into the air. He loses stride at the turn, catches it again, and wins by half a length anyway.
- Second half
In what book does a moon-faced bidder offer one silver dollar at an auction in a rough croaking voice?
✓ Answer
Justin Morgan Had a Horse by Marguerite Henry
When the small stallion is led onto the auction block, the first bid comes from a heavy man with a frog-like voice. Joel imagines the rider's weight crushing his friend's back.
- Near the end
In what book do American troops fell trees and break bridges to delay fifteen thousand British marching from Canada?
✓ Answer
Justin Morgan Had a Horse by Marguerite Henry
Outnumbered nearly four to one at Plattsburg, Colonel Totten's small army uses delaying tactics. The Vermont mounted riflemen and the regulars chop trees and wreck bridges to vex the redcoats.
