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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSTwelve-year-old Guadalupe "Lupe" Wong is a fierce baseball pitcher at Issaquah Middle School who has one big goal: get straight As so her Uncle Hector will take her to meet Fu Li Hernandez, the first Asian/Latino pitcher in the major leagues and a living reminder of her late father's dream. She's almost there — until seventh-grade P.E. announces a surprise unit on square dancing. Lupe is convinced the whole thing is a mistake, and she is determined to get it shut down before she has to learn a single do-si-do, but her plans keep backfiring in ways she never expected.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Lupe Wong Won't Dance
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 Lupe Wong Won't Dance. 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 coach march students into the gym to learn square moves to fiddle music?
✓ Answer
Lupe Wong Won't Dance by Donna Barba Higuera
Coach Solden announces the new P.E. unit by playing a video of square dancing to Cotton-Eyed Joe. The narrator is horrified, and stopping this old-fashioned activity becomes the engine of the whole book.
- First half
In what book does a friend's mom drip a homemade oil blend called Encouragement on a visitor's wrists?
✓ Answer
Lupe Wong Won't Dance by Donna Barba Higuera
Mrs. Foster keeps a china cabinet full of essential oils and douses Lupe with her custom blend before letting her go talk to Niles. The smell becomes a running joke during this scene.
- First half
In what book does a boy launch breakfast burrito vomit onto his classmate's shoes in the gym?
✓ Answer
Lupe Wong Won't Dance by Donna Barba Higuera
Gordon ate an old foil-wrapped burrito in the hallway right before P.E., then threw up just as he asked Zola to be his partner. Carl yells out "Krakatau!" and the moment becomes class legend.
- Second half
In what book do two grandmothers face off at the dinner table with steamed eggs versus pozole?
✓ Answer
Lupe Wong Won't Dance by Donna Barba Higuera
Grandma Wong and Abuela Salgado, the Chinese and Mexican grandmothers, have a quiet eyebrow-raising standoff during the monthly family dinner. They each tell different grandkids to "eat more," and Papa hides by pretending to study the wood paneling.
- Second half
In what book does a girl find her best friend ducking water balloons with her new soccer friends?
✓ Answer
Lupe Wong Won't Dance by Donna Barba Higuera
Lupe bikes over to make up with Andy, only to discover Andy in the middle of a water balloon fight with Jordyn and the other soccer girls. Andy tells her to leave and lets a green balloon explode at her feet like a symbolic mic drop.
- Near the end
In what book does a girl confess to vandalizing her own locker to protect her former best friend?
✓ Answer
Lupe Wong Won't Dance by Donna Barba Higuera
Lupe takes the blame for Jordyn's prank because Jordyn threatened to pin it on Andy. She tells Principal Singh she did it herself, hoping people would feel sorry for her and like baseball more than soccer, which makes no sense and gives her away.
