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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSTwelve-year-old Kingston James, called King, lives in a small Louisiana town still raw from the sudden death of his older brother Khalid a few months earlier. King has convinced himself that Khalid's spirit lives on as a dragonfly, and he visits the bayou every afternoon searching for a sign. His grief is tangled with other things he can't name: why he ended a close friendship with Sandy Sanders, the shy white boy who once confided that he likes other boys, and what it means that King sometimes wonders the same thing about himself. When Sandy disappears from home one day and the whole town organizes a search party, King discovers Sandy hiding in his backyard tent and is pulled into a web of secrets, loyalties, and fears that forces him to look honestly at who he is.
Free Battle of the Books questions for King and the Dragonflies
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 King and the Dragonflies. 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 winged insect fly through a church window and land on a casket?
✓ Answer
King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender
During Khalid's funeral, just as the choir began to sing, a dragonfly flew in through a window and landed on the edge of the casket. The narrator takes it as a sign that Khalid has returned to him in a new form.
- First half
In what book does a boy climb out his bedroom window to a tent and find a bruised runaway inside?
✓ Answer
King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender
Sent to bed without dinner, the narrator climbs out his window to sit in the tent and finds Sandy hiding inside with bruises on his face. Sandy begs him not to tell anyone.
- First half
In what book does a Louisiana father say "some people get what's coming to them" about a missing boy's family?
✓ Answer
King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender
The narrator overhears his dad telling his mom that the Sanders family deserves to feel some pain because of what Mikey, the sheriff, and the grandfather have done. He doesn't agree that Sandy deserves any of it.
- Second half
In what book does a girl confess, "You're the boy that I like" by a locker?
✓ Answer
King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender
Jasmine finally tells King she likes him after he asks if her script is about him. They become boyfriend and girlfriend in King and the Dragonflies.
- Second half
In what book does a runaway boy play a harmonica he found under a couch?
✓ Answer
King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender
Sandy finds a harmonica under the shack couch and plays a mess of noise while King bangs on a pan. The two boys form their own band in King and the Dragonflies.
- Near the end
In what book does a family travel to Mardi Gras to stay with an aunt in Louisiana?
✓ Answer
King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender
King's family drives to New Orleans to stay with Auntie Idris during Mardi Gras. Auntie Idris helps the family heal in King and the Dragonflies.
