BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSEleven-year-old Violet Hart is starting sixth grade in Minneapolis when her blended family (Mom, stepdad Eliot, big sister Mia, and three-year-old Owen) moves into an old blue-gray Victorian. Mia takes one look at the musty attic bedroom, with its faded wallpaper of tangled flowers and vines, and says "Nope," so the attic goes to Violet. Middle school is already shaking up her friendship with Paige and Ally, and a sleepover game of truth or dare with two new girls goes badly wrong. Then, the morning after the move, with a stray cat named Trixie newly at her side, Violet wakes up sick, and though she has some good days, she does not get well. Her tests keep coming back normal, and her best friend Paige starts to wonder whether she is really sick at all. Excused from gym, she makes friends with Will, a boy in the school library who is researching hauntings for a school project. Meanwhile, Trixie growls in the night and stares at the attic wall, and Violet begins to feel that something in the wallpaper is watching her.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Not Quite a Ghost
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 Not Quite a Ghost. 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 toddler whisper "Bunny?" and his big sister answer with two-finger bunny ears?
✓ Answer
Not Quite a Ghost by Anne Ursu
On the drive to see the new house, Owen whispers "Bunny?" and Violet bounces two fingers like bunny ears, which makes him clap and giggle. Later, when Owen looks worried at dinner, she flashes their bunny signal to reassure him.
- First half
In what book is a gym teacher shaped and colored like a tightly packed snowman?
✓ Answer
Not Quite a Ghost by Anne Ursu
Mr. Bell, the main gym teacher, looks like a very well-packed snowman in both color and body shape, and gym is his kingdom. He tells the sixth graders that in middle school they will no longer play games but learn sports.
- First half
In what book does an ancient tablet show a woman leading a sad man with bound hands into the underworld?
✓ Answer
Not Quite a Ghost by Anne Ursu
In the library, Will shows Violet a magazine article about an ancient tablet that experts think is the first drawing of a ghost, with instructions for an exorcist. Violet thinks the man being led into the underworld looks sad, and she decides the whole plan is gross if you're the girl.
- Second half
In what book does a friend with bright blue lips snap, "That's not how sickness works"?
✓ Answer
Not Quite a Ghost by Anne Ursu
At the Fall Harvest Fest, Paige, her lips bright blue, angrily questions whether Violet is really sick. The line stays with Violet long after Paige walks away.
- Second half
In what book does the smell of oily beef hit a girl like a semitruck in the cafeteria?
✓ Answer
Not Quite a Ghost by Anne Ursu
Later the same day as her run in gym, Violet walks into the lunchroom and the smell makes her stumble and turn green. A teacher catches her before she falls and takes her to the nurse.
- Near the end
In what book does a stepdad joke that a cat working as a full-time nurse must be fed on-site?
✓ Answer
Not Quite a Ghost by Anne Ursu
Trixie gives up her afternoon time in the living-room chair to stay up in the attic with Violet. When she doesn't come down for dinner, Eliot brings cat food upstairs, joking that union rules say a full-time nurse must be fed on-site.
