BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSBrianna Justice is a fifth grader at Orchard Park Elementary in Orchard Park, Michigan, and she has one big goal, to grow up and become a millionaire cupcake chef with her own cooking show, just like her hometown hero, celebrity chef Miss Delicious. Miss Delicious once told Brianna's class that becoming president of her fifth grade class was the first step toward her success, so Brianna has spent the whole summer planning to run for president herself, with help from her three best friends, Sara, Lauren, and Rebecca, whom everyone calls Becks. This year the job is bigger than ever. Instead of each of the five fifth grade classrooms choosing its own president, the school will elect just one president for the whole fifth grade, someone who also controls a five thousand dollar school budget and gets to travel to Washington, D.C. Just as Brianna is about to make her campaign official, a new student named Jasmine Moon joins her class and announces that she plans to run for president too. As the six week campaign heats up with speeches, slogans, and rumors, Brianna has to figure out how far she is willing to go to win, and what kind of president she really wants to be.
Free Battle of the Books questions for President of the Whole Fifth Grade
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 President of the Whole Fifth Grade. 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 new girl calm a panicked horse by standing on a chair and whispering?
✓ Answer
President of the Whole Fifth Grade by Sherri Winston
Jasmine Moon steps up when Dr. Beelie's horse gets frightened, rubbing its snout until the animal lowers its head like it is waiting for a secret. The principal praises her in front of the entire lunchroom, and that is the moment Brianna realizes the new girl is real competition.
- First half
In what book does a boy kick a girl's chair and say, "Greetings, freak"?
✓ Answer
President of the Whole Fifth Grade by Sherri Winston
Todd Hampton greets Brianna this way on the morning she shows up at school with blue hair. Kids keep crowding around and reaching out to touch it, as if blue hair might feel different from regular hair.
- First half
In what book is a girl offered the use of a bakery's professional kitchen to sell her cupcakes?
✓ Answer
President of the Whole Fifth Grade by Sherri Winston
Weasel's mother owns Wetzel's Bakery, and he tells Brianna that his mom will let her bake there and display her cupcakes in the shop. A future millionaire cannot turn that down, even though Sara and Lauren hate that she is working with Weasel at all.
- Second half
In what book do two kids sprint out of dark woods and crash into their principal?
✓ Answer
President of the Whole Fifth Grade by Sherri Winston
Brianna and David race each other back out, laughing and talking trash, and run straight into Dr. Beelie, who had made that area off-limits earlier the same day. Everybody else has already scattered, so the two of them get all the blame and Brianna lands in in-school suspension.
- Second half
In what book does a pet snake drop onto a girl's head when she pulls down a projector screen?
✓ Answer
President of the Whole Fifth Grade by Sherri Winston
Brianna is about to give her report at the front of the room when Taurus, the class snake, wriggles out from behind the screen. She screams, knocks herself in the head with the door, and spends the rest of the day in the media center. By the next morning she has convinced herself that Sara and Lauren, who care for the class pets, set her up.
- Near the end
In what book does a girl learn that the family camping in the woods lost their home?
✓ Answer
President of the Whole Fifth Grade by Sherri Winston
Brianna had thought the police only took one homeless man out of the woods behind the school, but it was a mom, a dad, and three kids after the father lost his job and the mother got sick. She announces on television that she would rather donate the class money to them than throw a beach party.
