BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSJam lives in Lucille, a city that believes it purged itself of monsters generations ago during a revolution led by protectors called angels. Jam is a Black trans girl who communicates mostly through sign language and rarely speaks aloud, and she spends her days with her painter mother Bitter, her paramedic father Aloe, and her best friend Redemption. When Jam sneaks into her mother's studio to look at an unfinished painting and cuts her hand on it by accident, a massive horned, feathered creature calling itself Pet claws its way out of the canvas and announces that it has come to hunt a monster in a city that supposedly has none left. Pet says the monster is hiding in Redemption's house, and Jam has to decide whether to trust a stranger from another world over everything Lucille has told her about itself.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Pet
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 Pet. 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 reach into a painting to free a trapped horn?
✓ Answer
Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
The creature gets its head stuck halfway out of the canvas, and Jam has to push her arm in almost to the armpit to work one horn loose from a cold loop. Inside, she says, the painting feels like nothing but cold and smoke.
- First half
In what book does a father cook saltfish buljol with avocado and buttered toast for breakfast?
✓ Answer
Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
Aloe cooks it the morning after the creature arrives, while he and Bitter brace themselves to tell Jam what they have decided. The warm ordinary breakfast makes the conversation that follows feel even heavier.
- First half
In what book does a small boy in a helmet nearly knock over two teenagers while carrying his skateboard?
✓ Answer
Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
Moss goes tearing across the foyer to practice new tricks before dinner, and Redemption grabs him by the shoulders. He is the little brother the entire family adores, which matters enormously as the story goes on.
- Second half
In what book does a creature dryly tell an amazed boy, "You say that a lot"?
✓ Answer
Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
Redemption keeps blurting out the same startled phrase the first time he sees the creature in Bitter's studio. The flat reply is one of the funniest beats in a very heavy book.
- Second half
In what book does a boy realize while reading an old pamphlet that his little brother is being hurt?
✓ Answer
Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
Redemption is skimming a pamphlet about warning signs when the pieces click together and he has to push back his chair and walk away. He tells Jam it is not him, it is Moss.
- Near the end
In what book does a boy call his friend sobbing because his parents did not believe him?
✓ Answer
Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
Redemption finally tells his mother, his father, and Whisper what he suspects, and they ask him why he would say such a thing. Their refusal to listen is what pushes the kids into handling it alone.
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