BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSSarah Emerson is a scholarship student at a Miami private school where she feels out of place among the wealthy kids who treat her like an outsider. On a weekend science field trip to the Florida Everglades, she skips the official outing and secretly goes for an airboat ride with Andy Malone, a fifteen-year-old local boy who lives and works at the field station. When the airboat sinks at a remote hunting camp ten miles deep in the sawgrass, Sarah and Andy are left with no phone, no food, and no way to signal for help, and they have to figure out whether to wait and hope someone finds them or start walking out through miles of water, alligators, and snakes.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Lost in the River of Grass
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 Lost in the River of Grass. 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 character use a 1952 film camera bought on eBay for a week's salary?
✓ Answer
Lost in the River of Grass by Ginny Rorby
Sarah's dad lent her his prized 1952 Leica IIIf Red Dial camera for the field trip. He bought it on eBay for a week's salary and treasures it. To focus, Sarah has to turn a ring until two overlapping images become one, and it uses actual film instead of digital.
- First half
In what book does a girl name a duckling after a teapot because of its squat, pudgy shape?
✓ Answer
Lost in the River of Grass by Ginny Rorby
Sarah names the orphaned duckling Teapot because it reminds her of one, squat and pudgy with a skinny little neck. Once she thinks of the name, the nursery rhyme "I'm a Little Teapot" plays in her head on repeat until she wants to scream.
- First half
In what book does a mother alligator charge wild hogs that are rooting in her nest?
✓ Answer
Lost in the River of Grass by Ginny Rorby
Two wild pigs follow the sound of hatching babies to the alligator's nest and start pushing into the mound with their noses. The mother alligator hisses, rises on all fours, and charges down her trail. She rips after the female pig and gashes its back leg.
- Second half
In what book does a girl bail muddy water from a hand-dug hole until clear water seeps in?
✓ Answer
Lost in the River of Grass by Ginny Rorby
Sarah gets the idea to scoop out the muddy water from the scratch well, similar to how vinegar settles in salad dressing. She bails out the brown water with an empty bottle until fresh, clear water seeps up through the soil.
- Second half
In what book does a dead tree with a rusted coffeepot jammed on top mark a crossroads?
✓ Answer
Lost in the River of Grass by Ginny Rorby
Andy is thrilled to spot a tall dead tree topped with a coffeepot that looks like a long-faced cowboy. The pot has been there since before he was born and marks the intersection of the main airboat trails, which tells him they are only two or three miles from the levee.
- Near the end
In what book does a boy reveal that his father's trips to the city are to see a parole officer?
✓ Answer
Lost in the River of Grass by Ginny Rorby
During their conversation while the snake is on Andy's ankle, Sarah asks about his father's business trips. Andy corrects her, revealing that his dad goes monthly to see his parole officer. His father is an ex-con who served time for running drugs as a stone crab fisherman.
