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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSCici just moved from Taiwan to Seattle, and she misses her grandmother A-má more than anything. When she spots a flyer for a kids' cooking contest called Platinum Jr. Chef, she sees her chance to win the cash prize and secretly buy A-má a plane ticket to surprise her father for A-má's seventieth birthday. The only problem is that Cici only knows how to cook Taiwanese dishes, and her new contest partner Miranda comes from a family that runs an Italian restaurant and expects her to already know things like arborio rice and al dente pasta. As the weeks of competition stretch on, Cici has to juggle new friendships at school, a father who cares more about her grades than her cooking, and a growing worry that she does not fully belong in either her old life or her new one. A student reading this should want to find out whether Cici's plan works and what she learns about herself along the way.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Measuring Up
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 Measuring Up. 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 girl invent a marshmallow peanut butter sandwich everyone wants to trade for?
✓ Answer
Measuring Up by Lily LaMotte
Cici studies what the American kids eat, adds the ingredients to the family shopping list, and keeps experimenting until she has a hit. Classmates call dibs on it in the lunch line, though her parents are not impressed.
- First half
In what book does a girl tell her teammate that she chops onions like a samurai?
✓ Answer
Measuring Up by Lily LaMotte
Miranda's knife work is so fast that onion halves fly through the air with a swish. Cici admits it would take a LOT of practice for her to handle a knife that way, since Miranda grew up in a restaurant kitchen.
- First half
In what book does an English nanny reveal she is still waiting in the queue for a green card?
✓ Answer
Measuring Up by Lily LaMotte
Cici had assumed only her own family had to wait years for green cards, since that wait is what keeps A-má in Taiwan. Amy Jones points out that it would be the same if she were German, French, Italian or Australian.
- Second half
In what book does a librarian refuse an American cookbook and hand over a French one?
✓ Answer
Measuring Up by Lily LaMotte
Cici asks Ms. Green for the best how to cook American cookbook in the building, and Ms. Green hands her Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking along with a DVD of her old show. That stubborn recommendation shapes everything Cici cooks for the rest of the contest.
- Second half
In what book is a grandmother alarmed to hear that Americans build fires inside wooden houses?
✓ Answer
Measuring Up by Lily LaMotte
On a late night video call Cici tells A-má about the fireplace at Emily's house, and A-má cannot believe anyone would light a fire inside a wooden home. It is one of the small moments where Cici's two worlds bump into each other.
- Near the end
In what book does a finalist squeeze a drop of lavender into her simmering dish?
✓ Answer
Measuring Up by Lily LaMotte
Cici spots lavender on the store's spice shelf and decides it will play against the cardamom to build a new flavor. It is the missing piece that turns A-má's recipe into something that is also hers.
