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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSNine-year-old Ruby Lavender lives in the small town of Halleluia, Mississippi, and her best friend in the world is her grandmother, Miss Eula Dapplevine. The two of them do everything together: they rescue condemned chickens from Peterson's Egg Ranch, exchange letters through a secret knothole mailbox behind the post office, and tend Ivy the hen's soon-to-hatch eggs. Then Miss Eula drops a bombshell: she is leaving the very next day to visit her son in Hawaii, where a surprise new grandchild has just been born. For Ruby, who already carries a heavy sadness from the death of her grandfather the previous summer, a whole summer without Miss Eula feels impossible, especially when her nemesis, the sharp-tongued Melba Jane Latham, is still right there in Halleluia. With her grandmother gone, Ruby has to figure out how to get through a hard summer, manage her grief, and face the complicated truth she has been hiding about the accident that killed both her grandfather and Melba's father.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Love, Ruby Lavender
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 Love, Ruby Lavender. 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 grandmother drive the getaway car during a chicken rescue?
✓ Answer
Love, Ruby Lavender by Deborah Wiles
Miss Eula drives the car while Ruby grabs chickens from Peterson's Egg Ranch, making them a grandmother-granddaughter team of chicken liberators. The egg ranch owner yells that they are crazy as they pull away.
- First half
In what book does a girl compare another girl's curly hairdo to a heap of catfish guts?
✓ Answer
Love, Ruby Lavender by Deborah Wiles
Ruby describes Melba Jane's new ringlet hairstyle as looking like catfish guts in a letter to Miss Eula. When Melba shows off the curls at the back of Miss Mattie's store, Ruby tells her it looks like she stuck her finger in a light socket.
- First half
In what book does a family make root-beer floats in red plastic bowls because they can't find their glasses?
✓ Answer
Love, Ruby Lavender by Deborah Wiles
The Ishees have just moved to the old egg ranch and everything is still in boxes. When Mr. Ishee can't find glasses, Ruby spots some bowls, so they make root-beer floats in red plastic bowls and eat them with spoons and straws on the porch.
- Second half
In what book does a woman comb a girl's tangled hair after cleaning her cuts?
✓ Answer
Love, Ruby Lavender by Deborah Wiles
After the rock-throwing incident, Miss Mattie washes Ruby's and Dove's hair in the kitchen sink, treats their cuts with Mercurochrome, and then gently combs Ruby's tangled red hair, pulling it into a neat ponytail. It's a rare tender moment between Ruby and her usually stern great-aunt.
- Second half
In what book is a newly hatched chick described as cornmeal yellow and shaking like a puppy?
✓ Answer
Love, Ruby Lavender by Deborah Wiles
When Ivy's surviving chick finally hatches, Ruby describes her as cornmeal yellow. The tiny new chick shakes herself like a puppy and tries to take her first step but stumbles. Ruby names her Rosebud.
- Near the end
In what book does a girl read "P" words from a dictionary to a nesting chicken?
✓ Answer
Love, Ruby Lavender by Deborah Wiles
On the night of the operetta, Ruby sits in the greenhouse reading words from the P section of the dictionary to Bemmie, who is sitting on her egg. Words like "peony" and "pepper-and-salt" send Ruby's mind wandering to lemon drops and her grandpa.
