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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSIn this novel in verse, eleven-year-old Luna Harriet McKenna loves numbers, facts and outer space. She lives in Ottawa with her astronomer dad, her big brother, Leo, and her mom, a florist who writes haikus. Luna wants to be an astronaut. Her plan is to earn the best mark in her class's space unit and win a spot at Camp Kennedy Space Center, a competitive NASA summer camp. But after the holiday break, her teacher, Mr. Griffin, who promised to write her a letter of reference, is away caring for his mother after she had a terrible fall. The substitute, Ms. Manitowabi, announces that the space unit will now link science and art. Luna's only C ever came in art class, and as far as she is concerned, "Art is NOT science and science is NOT art." Other things are changing too. Her best friend, Maggie, seems to be spending more time with a classmate named Astrid, a new seating chart puts Luna beside the new boy, Bennett, and even Leo starts acting strangely. Then Ms. Manitowabi shares a star map passed down through the oral stories of her Ojibwe ancestors, and Luna begins to wonder how much she really knows about the sky.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Reasons to Look at the Night Sky
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 Reasons to Look at the Night Sky. 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 big brother say "sometimes things you don't want are actually the things you need"?
✓ Answer
Reasons to Look at the Night Sky by Danielle Daniel
Leo plops on the foot of Luna's bed after her rough first day and says this while tossing one of her stuffed space bears into the air. Luna is so surprised by his wisdom that she tells him he kind of sounds like Yoda.
- First half
In what book do two friends on skates gobble warm, doughy BeaverTails and tongue-burning hot chocolate?
✓ Answer
Reasons to Look at the Night Sky by Danielle Daniel
Skating on the canal almost feels like flying as Luna and Maggie hold hands and weave around little kids. On their break they gobble BeaverTails, which Luna describes as warm doughy sweet clouds, with hot chocolate that burns the tip of her tongue.
- First half
In what book does learning who named Pluto make a girl sure she can become an astronaut?
✓ Answer
Reasons to Look at the Night Sky by Danielle Daniel
Luna learns that eleven-year-old Venetia Burney suggested the name Pluto, and even Dad, who buys her books about female scientists and astronauts, had never heard of her. If a girl her age could name a planet, Luna decides, anything is possible.
- Second half
In what book does spotting the word Biboon, meaning winter, on a star map give a girl goosebumps?
✓ Answer
Reasons to Look at the Night Sky by Danielle Daniel
When the Sky Stories map fills the classroom screen, Luna's eyes zoom to the winter corner and the word Biboon, which Ms. Manitowabi told them means "winter" in Ojibwe. Luna is one of only three students with a winter birthday, and she wants to learn EVERYTHING she can about the winter sky.
- Second half
In what book does a girl make three wishes on what seems like a shooting star on her bedroom ceiling?
✓ Answer
Reasons to Look at the Night Sky by Danielle Daniel
At bedtime Luna thinks she sees a shooting star among her glow-in-the-dark stars, which makes no sense, but she is willing to believe for three seconds at least. She wishes to get into Camp Kennedy Space Center, for everyone to learn about the Sky Stories, and for her and Maggie to be best friends again.
- Near the end
In what book does a boy bring a space playlist on his iPod and know every word of "Space Oddity"?
✓ Answer
Reasons to Look at the Night Sky by Danielle Daniel
To get them in the right headspace for building their project, Bennett plays a space playlist he made, starting with David Bowie's "Space Oddity." Luna laughs through the whole song because he knows every single word, and she realizes how happy she is that they are working together.
