BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSZephyrina is a scrappy street cat known around the neighborhood as Kleptocat because she steals things, mostly stuffed toys, and delivers them to Second Chances Home for the Tossed and Treasured, a rescue operation for cast-off toys run by a girl named Dasha and her mother, Elizaveta, out of their run-down apartment. The toys are secretly alive. They move and talk only at night, led by Pocket, a three-and-a-half-inch mascot bear well over a hundred years old whom the others call Sarge. One misty night Zephyrina drags a heavy, mothball-scented bear out of a restaurant trash can and brings him to Pocket for the usual welcome. Instead of his usual calm greeting, Pocket reacts with open shock, though he refuses to explain why.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Pocket Bear
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 Pocket Bear. 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 soggy toy inside a restaurant trash can politely say, "Oh my"?
✓ Answer
Pocket Bear by Katherine Applegate
Zephyrina has stuffed herself behind Cantalini's and is reaching into the bin one last time when she paws something soft and heavy that turns out to be talking. Those two little words are the first thing Berwon ever says, and they set the whole story going.
- First half
In what book is a new toy sealed in a plastic bag and stored beside the ice cream sandwiches?
✓ Answer
Pocket Bear by Katherine Applegate
Every arrival at Second Chances spends a couple of days in the freezer so that lice, fleas, and bedbugs die off. The toys drop into a deep dreamless sleep, which their leader calls hibernation, just like real bears.
- First half
In what book does a boastful cat feel like an invisible speck after spinning a battered globe?
✓ Answer
Pocket Bear by Katherine Applegate
Standing on a stack of books, Pocket shows Zephyrina New York, then slides his paw across the Atlantic to France, where he went with his soldier. Realizing how tiny her whole world is rattles her, and she says the thought clings like a flea that will not let go.
- Second half
In what book does a sailor pry open a crate and say, "What an ugly dolly!"?
✓ Answer
Pocket Bear by Katherine Applegate
Berwon was packed with dozens of identical bears in a crate bound for America when a German sailor named Franz spotted him peeking through a gap in the wood. Franz yanked him out, and another sailor insisted the thing was a dog, which still offends Berwon a century later.
- Second half
In what book does a cat bargain with a labradoodle holding three tennis balls in his mouth?
✓ Answer
Pocket Bear by Katherine Applegate
Zephyrina needs backup, so she offers Goofus the neighborhood escape artist first dibs on all the Cantalini's scraps she can find. Goofus holds out for forever, and his garbled Tennis Ball Mouth negotiating wins him the deal.
- Near the end
In what book does a cat deliberately roll in a trash bag of baby and dog poop?
✓ Answer
Pocket Bear by Katherine Applegate
Zephyrina needs a distraction disruptive enough to alarm a crowded auction room, so she slices open the worst bag behind the building and dives in. For a cat this vain about her fur and her nose, it is the biggest sacrifice she has ever made.
