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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSThirteen-year-old Elsbeth Culpepper has told everyone in Boston that she is sixteen, and no one questions her because she's already unusually tall for her age. She works as a kitchen maid for a demanding Loyalist judge while the city sits under siege by Patriot forces. When the British finally decide to evacuate in March, Elsbeth's father, a sailmaker, panics and insists on taking her with him, certain that staying behind is too dangerous. Determined not to leave the only home she has left, Elsbeth hides until the ships sail without them. Her small act of defiance works, but it also pulls her into new trouble: a demanding job with a chaotic new family, a secretive young heiress named Hannah Sparhawk who needs a friend she can trust, and a scarred stranger who claims to know something about her missing father. Getting what she wanted turns out to be only the beginning.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Rebellion 1776
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 Rebellion 1776. 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 gout-plagued judge bellow for a clean puke bucket during a bombardment?
✓ Answer
Rebellion 1776 by Laurie Halse Anderson
Judge Bellingham is sick in bed with gout and a sour stomach on the night the cannons open up, so Elsbeth has to sprint down the hall for a chamber pot while shells fly overhead. Their whole relationship is in that moment, him roaring orders and her obeying while secretly imagining dumping the bucket on his head.
- First half
In what book does a maid put her nose to a floor to prove a stain is clean?
✓ Answer
Rebellion 1776 by Laurie Halse Anderson
Widow Nash has made Elsbeth scrub the same spot in the hall every day for a week, and on the eighth day Elsbeth finally refuses. Missus Pike walks in and takes the maid's side, which is the first crack in the housekeeper's power over her.
- First half
In what book does a boy pour mustard into a sleeping girl's hair?
✓ Answer
Rebellion 1776 by Laurie Halse Anderson
Benjamin Pike gets his revenge on Hannah for teasing him, and Elsbeth leaves the resulting commotion to the reader's imagination. The next day he sweetly asks for a fresh jar of mustard at lunch, which is how Elsbeth discovers the pantry has gone bare.
- Second half
In what book is a dinner guest asked, "How many pox patients did you puncture today"?
✓ Answer
Rebellion 1776 by Laurie Halse Anderson
Hannah teases Nyott Doubt across the Pike dinner table about his work assisting Doctor Crookshank. He corrects her, explaining that they do not puncture anyone, and admits the doctor will not trust him with the scalpel yet.
- Second half
In what book are painted wooden lion and unicorn statues tossed onto a street bonfire?
✓ Answer
Rebellion 1776 by Laurie Halse Anderson
Once the Declaration has been read from the State House balcony, men climb the roof and pull down the royal statues for the bonfire below. Elsbeth is surprised to see they were never stone at all, only wood painted in bright colors, and the lion catches quickly.
- Near the end
In what book does a girl leave a window unlatched on purpose as bait for a thief?
✓ Answer
Rebellion 1776 by Laurie Halse Anderson
Elsbeth climbs into Captain Hunter's shabby little house hunting for proof that he stole Hannah's inheritance, and leaves with two of his eight account books. On the way out she decides a good trap needs proper bait, and she knows exactly which rat will take it.
