BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSMay Amelia Jackson is twelve years old in 1899, the only girl born on the Nasel River in Washington State, and she has seven brothers to prove it. She lives on a Finnish-American homestead where her father expects her to act like a proper young lady while her brothers get to fish, shoot guns, and work the logging camps. May has none of it: she chops off her hair to get a job as a river runner, sneaks up a mountainside to catch a murderer, and gets herself chased by cougars, bears, and a shotgun-wielding farmer who thinks the twins are ghosts. What she wants most of all is a sister, and when her mother's long-awaited baby finally arrives, May gets everything she hoped for, and far more grief than she ever expected.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Our Only May Amelia
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 Our Only May Amelia. 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 boy report that a neighbor broke her back, but he actually means a sheep?
✓ Answer
Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm
Isaiah runs home yelling that Mrs. Petersen has broken her back in the south field, and everyone panics. When they rush out, they discover he's talking about the sheep he named Mrs. Petersen, not the real neighbor. Even Pappa laughs.
- First half
In what book do children dip fishing nets in boiled tanbark to make them last longer in water?
✓ Answer
Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm
Uncle Aarno, a gillnetter, teaches the children how to dip his flax fishing nets into boiled tanbark to make them tougher and last longer in the water. The tanbark smells awful and May Amelia ends up getting more of it on herself than on the nets.
- First half
In what book does a grandmother smash a china baby doll with her cane?
✓ Answer
Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm
When May Amelia refuses to make another cup of tea for Grandmother Patience, the old woman raises her cane and brings it down on the beautiful china baby doll Aunt Feenie gave her, smashing it into a million pieces. It's one of the cruelest moments in the story.
- Second half
In what book does a girl get treed by a mother bear after petting her cubs?
✓ Answer
Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm
While searching for Micah Andersen on the other side of the mountain, May Amelia finds two adorable bear cubs and scratches one on its belly. The mama bear appears and charges, and May Amelia scrambles up a tree where she is stuck all night.
- Second half
In what book does a girl name her baby sister by rearranging the letters of her own first name?
✓ Answer
Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm
May Amelia names her baby sister Amy because it is the letters of MAY all mixed up. She adds the middle name Alice after Aunt Alice, just as she always said she would.
- Near the end
In what book does a river freeze so solid that children go ice-skating around ships trapped in the harbor?
✓ Answer
Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm
During the coldest winter anyone can remember, the Columbia River freezes over and all the big ships in the harbor are stuck fast in the ice. May Amelia and Wilbert spend hours skating around the frozen vessels while homesteaders who came to town for provisions are stranded and unable to get back to their families.
