BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSSame Sun Here is an epistolary novel told entirely through letters between two twelve-year-olds who become best friends without ever meeting: Meena Joshi, a girl from the mountains of northern India who now lives with her family in New York City's Chinatown, and River Dean Justice, a redheaded boy from Black Banks, a small coal-mining town in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. Matched as pen pals through a school assignment in the summer of 2008, the two begin trading letters about their very different lives, and right away they discover something unexpected: despite the distance between Chinatown and Appalachia, their worlds have more in common than anyone might guess. As the letters pile up, both kids are facing serious problems at home, and the question of what it means to stand up for the people and places you love starts to feel urgent for both of them.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Same Sun Here
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 Same Sun Here. 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 pick her pen pal because she sees okra from his state at the grocery?
✓ Answer
Same Sun Here by Silas House and Neela Vaswani
On a class field trip to D'Agostino grocery store, Meena spots Kentucky okra in a wooden box with mountains pictured on the side. The mountains remind her of home in India, which is why she chooses River from the pen pal list.
- First half
In what book does a man rip up a hundred dollar bill and then tape it back together?
✓ Answer
Same Sun Here by Silas House and Neela Vaswani
Meena's daddy works at a catering hall and tells a story about a father at his daughter's sweet sixteen. The man tears a hundred-dollar bill in half to show off his wealth, then Daddy catches him kneeling in the cleaning closet taping it back together.
- First half
In what book does a grandmother take her grandson to vote at the fire station in 2008?
✓ Answer
Same Sun Here by Silas House and Neela Vaswani
Mamaw takes River with her to the fire station to vote in the 2008 presidential election. She wants him to understand how lucky they are to be able to vote. A bushy-bearded man heckles her on the way out for being a tree hugger.
- Second half
In what book does a coach carry an injured boy out of a collapsing gym?
✓ Answer
Same Sun Here by Silas House and Neela Vaswani
Coach runs to Mark and carries him out as the gym ceiling caves in. River sees big rocks come so close that Coach must have felt the wind off them.
- Second half
In what book does a family sleep in coats and hats and huddle around an open oven door for warmth?
✓ Answer
Same Sun Here by Silas House and Neela Vaswani
The Chinatown landlord turns off the heat to drive the rent-controlled tenants out. Meena's family sleeps in coats and hats and scarves. When Mum gets home from babysitting they switch on the oven and leave the door open to warm the apartment.
- Near the end
In what book does a teacher give a student her favorite paperback copy of To Kill a Mockingbird?
✓ Answer
Same Sun Here by Silas House and Neela Vaswani
Ms. Stidham keeps River after class and shoves the little purple paperback into his hands. She tells him she is proud to know him for doing the right thing.
