BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSEleven-year-old Fiona Crane is furious about being uprooted from her friends in Pittsfield and dragged to the small, old town of Lost Lake, Massachusetts, all because her figure-skating sister Arden needs to be closer to her training club. While spending long hours in the grand old Chisholm Memorial Library, Fiona stumbles across a strange book called The Lost One, bound in dark green leather with no author name on the cover. The story inside follows two sisters, Hazel and Pearl, who lived in a New England town a century ago, until one of them vanished and a shadowy creature called the Searcher was blamed. Fiona is immediately hooked, but the book keeps disappearing, the librarian acts cagey about it, and Fiona begins to realize that the town in the story might be Lost Lake itself.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Long Lost
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 Long Lost. 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 do two sisters cut off matching chunks of their hair after one gets stuck in a pine?
✓ Answer
Long Lost by Jacqueline West
In the story within the story, Pearl gets her hair tangled high in a pine. Hazel saws it free with her pocketknife and then chops her own hair too, so they can share the blame for climbing trees.
- First half
In what book does a girl match place names from an old story to a map of her real town?
✓ Answer
Long Lost by Jacqueline West
Fiona jots down Rose Lane, Turnpike Road, Parson's Bridge, and the meadow from the old book. The 1910 map at the library proves every location is real, and that the story is set right where she now lives.
- First half
In what book does a girl chase a curly brown dog up a back staircase to a library's third floor?
✓ Answer
Long Lost by Jacqueline West
After her terrifying run through the woods, Fiona follows a stray dog back to the library and up two flights of stairs. The dog leads her straight to the closed off bedroom that holds the key to the whole mystery.
- Second half
In what book does a librarian with violets in her hair offer chocolate covered raisins from her shirt pocket?
✓ Answer
Long Lost by Jacqueline West
Ms. Miranda catches Fiona behind the circulation desk with the strange book. She brings her into the storage room and shares chocolate covered raisins while gently questioning her about what she's discovered.
- Second half
In what book does a blond boy with a broad green umbrella introduce himself by his great grandpa's full name?
✓ Answer
Long Lost by Jacqueline West
Charlie Hobbes appears as Fiona unearths the knife. He shares the name of his great grandfather, who once worked for the Chisholms and is a character in the mystery book.
- Near the end
In what book does a sister sit alone in the dark living room watching skating videos of herself and crying?
✓ Answer
Long Lost by Jacqueline West
On her way to sneak out at night, Fiona finds Arden sitting on the couch in the dark, sniffling. Arden confesses she didn't place at the Longfellow Open and is afraid her skating career is falling apart.
