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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSTen-year-old Bonnie Montgomery has a secret nobody knows except her grandfather, Grampa Banks. Whenever a mystery needs solving, she puts on a beret, a bushy false moustache, and an oversized trench coat and becomes Montgomery Bonbon, the world's finest detective, a mysterious gentleman the police have quietly relied on more than once. On a day trip to the Hornville Museum of Natural History and Suchlike, a cluttered old building full of bizarre stitched-together taxidermy creatures, the lights suddenly cut out and a scream tears through the halls. Upstairs, Bonnie and Grampa Banks find the turret room door smashed open from the inside, security guard Oliver Munday dead on the floor, and the museum's prized Widdlington Eagle statue gone from its display case. Inspector Sands wants nothing to do with Montgomery Bonbon, so Bonnie has to run her own investigation, tracking down a nervous restorer, a plant-obsessed manager, a tour guide hiding a surprising side project, and the museum owner's mysterious daughter Dana, all while keeping her double life hidden from her own unsuspecting mum.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Montgomery Bonbon: Murder at the Museum
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 Montgomery Bonbon: Murder at the Museum. 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 stare into the cold, hard eyes of a chimpanzebra?
✓ Answer
Montgomery Bonbon: Murder at the Museum by Alasdair Beckett-King
Bonnie cannot shake the creeping feeling that the stitched-together creature is staring back at her. Moments later the power fails and the whole hall goes black, which makes those glassy eyes even worse.
- First half
In what book is a companion's noisy sneaking compared to dragging a mattress full of maracas?
✓ Answer
Montgomery Bonbon: Murder at the Museum by Alasdair Beckett-King
Warboys leads Bonnie through the dark towards the sound of a break-in and is spectacularly bad at being quiet. Bonnie brings her anyway, because if she catches the killer's accomplice she needs a witness.
- First half
In what book does a young detective go undercover as a ten-year-old girl at choir practice?
✓ Answer
Montgomery Bonbon: Murder at the Museum by Alasdair Beckett-King
Bonnie cannot turn up at St Hilaria's in the beret and moustache without announcing that she is investigating, so she goes as herself and jokes that her code name is her own name. Her real target is Dana Hornville, who sang beside Oliver Munday.
- Second half
In what book does a feathered dart thud into an armchair beside an open sash window?
✓ Answer
Montgomery Bonbon: Murder at the Museum by Alasdair Beckett-King
Anton Price shrieks, drops his grandmother's china teapot and reels away from his chair, and a feathered dart is left stuck in the upholstery. Bonnie believes the killer is trying to silence a witness, though the truth about who threw that dart is very different.
- Second half
In what book does a girl lie splayed like a starfish on the kitchen tiles after a wrongful arrest?
✓ Answer
Montgomery Bonbon: Murder at the Museum by Alasdair Beckett-King
Once Bonnie realises Harriet Spruce is probably innocent, she sinks into what she and Grampa Banks call the Doldrums and spends an hour flat on the floor. Grampa Banks eventually bribes her upright with peppermint tea.
- Near the end
In what book does a girl hiding under a desk try to think tiny thoughts like dried peas?
✓ Answer
Montgomery Bonbon: Murder at the Museum by Alasdair Beckett-King
Bonnie dives into the kneehole of Herman Hornville's desk when he strides back in to take a phone call. She squeezes her eyes shut and lists the smallest things she can imagine, including her own interest in sport.
