BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSSixteen-year-old Vivian Carter is a quiet junior at East Rockport High School, in a small Texas town on the Gulf Coast where the football team can do no wrong. Players get away with sexist jokes and crude T-shirts, and when the principal's son coughs out "Make me a sandwich" while the new girl, Lucy Hernandez, is answering a question, the English teacher punishes the whole class instead of him. Then Viv pulls down her mom's old shoe box labeled MY MISSPENT YOUTH, packed with Riot Grrrl zines from her mother's wild punk-rock days in the 1990s. Inspired, Viv secretly makes a zine of her own, names it Moxie, copies it at a shop called U COPY IT, and leaves stacks in the girls' bathrooms before school. When it asks girls to come to school Friday with stars and hearts drawn on their hands, some actually do, Lucy among them. Meanwhile, a cute new boy from Austin named Seth catches Viv's eye, and Viv keeps her secret even from her best friend, Claudia, who isn't sure what to make of it.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Moxie
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 Moxie. 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 shoe box labeled MY MISSPENT YOUTH hold cassette tapes, Polaroids and photocopied zines?
✓ Answer
Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu
While putting away her mom's laundry, Viv takes down the box of keepsakes from Mom's Riot Grrrl days, including zines like Girl Germs and Jigsaw. Looking through it makes Viv feel understood, and the box later inspires her to make a zine of her own.
- First half
In what book does a principal announce that "modesty is a virtue that never goes out of style"?
✓ Answer
Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu
In the middle of a week of dress code checks, Principal Wilson uses the morning announcements to remind the girls to dress modestly. Viv is furious and whispers to two classmates that he never goes after the boys in gross shirts.
- First half
In what book does a girl pencil a tiny message on her desk, hoping a girl sits there next period?
✓ Answer
Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu
On bathrobe day, after Kate's stunt in history class, Viv prints MOXIE GIRLS FIGHT BACK in pencil in the bottom right corner of her desk. The letters are only about half an inch high, but she traces them until her pencil is dull.
- Second half
In what book is a boy's dog named after the jazz drummer Max Roach?
✓ Answer
Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu
On their real date at Los Tios, Viv keeps discovering little things about Seth, like that he's left-handed and his dad speaks Spanish and German. His dog Max is named after Max Roach, a jazz drummer his mother loves.
- Second half
In what book do bright-yellow Post-its by a bedroom window spell out an Audre Lorde quote?
✓ Answer
Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu
When Viv visits Lucy after she's sent home from school, she sees Post-its running down beside Lucy's tiny window, one word each, spelling YOUR SILENCE WILL NOT PROTECT YOU. Lucy explains it's a quote from the poet Audre Lorde.
- Near the end
In what book does an artist get a hall by telling her Vietnam vet grandfather it's a football support club?
✓ Answer
Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu
Kiera and Amaya plan an off-campus Moxie meet up, and Kiera gets the VFW hall through her grandfather by telling him it's a girls' club to talk about how to support the football team. She smirks when she tells Viv the cover story.
