BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSNim Rusoe is an eleven-year-old girl who lives on a tiny, secret island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with her scientist father, Jack, and her two animal companions: Selkie, a sea lion, and Fred, a marine iguana. When Jack sails away on a three-day plankton research trip, Nim is on her own for the first time, and a storm at sea damages Jack's boat and knocks out his communications. While Nim does her best to manage alone, she strikes up an unexpected email friendship with Alex Rover, the famous adventure writer whose latest book Jack left behind. As the days stretch on without word from Jack, Nim must deal with a worsening knee injury, a run-in with the dreaded Troppo Tourists, and a growing storm, all while wondering whether her father will make it home.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Nim's Island
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 Nim's Island. 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 throw ripe coconuts down from a palm tree for breakfast?
✓ Answer
Nim's Island by Wendy Orr
After Nim's father Jack sails away to study plankton, Nim's first task is getting breakfast. She throws four ripe coconuts down from the tree, then cracks them open with a rock and a spike. She shares pieces with her iguana friend Fred.
- First half
In what book does a girl tickle a turtle's wrinkly chin until its wise eyes blink with happiness?
✓ Answer
Nim's Island by Wendy Orr
After Chica finishes laying her eggs and covering them with sand, Nim tickles under her chin. Chica blinks her wise turtle eyes happily. Nim hopes that someday Chica's daughters will return to the same beach to lay their own eggs.
- First half
In what book does a girl drag a dead shark onto a steam vent until it explodes?
✓ Answer
Nim's Island by Wendy Orr
After finding half a dead shark washed up on the beach, Nim hauls it to the Hissing Stones and piles it with rotting seaweed over the steam vents. The built-up pressure finally blows, spraying bits of rotten shark in a choking geyser that drives the tourist ship away.
- Second half
In what book does a girl make two small rafts out of coconuts and a torn fishing net?
✓ Answer
Nim's Island by Wendy Orr
Nim finds a torn fishing net washed up on the beach and cuts it into four squares. She knots them into two bags, fills each with ten coconuts, and tests them in Keyhole Cove. She's doing the experiment for Alex Rover's new book.
- Second half
In what book does a girl admit she secretly wished a pen pal could be her father?
✓ Answer
Nim's Island by Wendy Orr
In her angry letter to Alex Rover, Nim confesses that she especially wishes she had never wished Alex could be her father instead of Jack. This reveals how deeply lonely and scared Nim has felt during Jack's absence and how much the friendship with Alex has meant to her.
- Near the end
In what book does a woman tie herself to a boat with a rope she pulled from a metal ring?
✓ Answer
Nim's Island by Wendy Orr
When the storm hits, Alex Rover can't reach the mast to tie herself on, so she yanks a rope from a nearby metal ring and ties it around her waist. Later she wonders if the rope she pulled off was important, and the knot she tied becomes nearly impossible to untie.
