BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSZara and her twin brother Zeeshan can't go five minutes without fighting. Zara is obsessed with animals and keeps a nature journal app on her phone, while Zeeshan lives for NASA videos and space facts. After one fight too many at the Key West airport, their parents take away both phones until the end of the family's trip, and only if the twins stop bickering. Amma, the twins' mom and a pediatrician, is in Key West to receive an award at a medical conference, so the twins are stuck together at the resort with nothing to do and nobody but each other. After making a seashell deal with Zeeshan and surviving a disastrous kayak trip, Zara wanders off alone on the beach and finds something that changes her whole trip, a huge, sick sea turtle lying in the dunes. She decides he will be her secret and that she will take care of him herself, even though she has no idea what is wrong with him.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Saving Sunshine
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 Saving Sunshine. 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 boy joke that his mom is getting an award for her biryani?
✓ Answer
Saving Sunshine by Saadia Faruqi
At dinner Abba says Amma is a great cook and a wonderful doctor who is getting an award at the conference this week, and Zeeshan cracks, "Yeah, a biryani award!" Amma laughs and calls it "just a small award."
- First half
In what book does a girl build a lean-to of sticks and palm fronds over a sick animal?
✓ Answer
Saving Sunshine by Saadia Faruqi
Deciding "First things first. You need shade!", Zara pulls down a palm frond, gathers sticks and builds a shelter over the sick loggerhead. Then she names him Sunshine and calls him her little secret.
- First half
In what book does a girl remember trying on hijabs at a mirror hung with string lights?
✓ Answer
Saving Sunshine by Saadia Faruqi
Zara remembers standing at her bedroom mirror trying on different scarves and asking herself, "Should I?" When she asks Amma how she looks, Amma covers her mouth with tears in her eyes.
- Second half
In what book does a boy daydream of sending a live feed from a planet with underground oceans?
✓ Answer
Saving Sunshine by Saadia Faruqi
In Zeeshan's daydream, an announcer's caption says special astronaut Zeeshan Aziz is sending a live feed from Planet X4371 and its underground oceans. A beach ball flying at his helmet brings him back to the beach.
- Second half
In what book does a vet bet kids on the beach have been feeding a sick animal lettuce?
✓ Answer
Saving Sunshine by Saadia Faruqi
Dr. Sergio says Sunshine probably has a vitamin A deficiency, then guesses kids on the beach have been feeding him lettuce or something. Zara jumps in to say turtles need a balanced diet, with meat and veggies.
- Near the end
In what book does a boy ask "What. In. The. Universe?" at a surprise his sister reveals?
✓ Answer
Saving Sunshine by Saadia Faruqi
Zara leads Zeeshan down the beach in the dark, away from Sunshine, then flings out her arm with "Ta-da!" at a lighthouse-shaped observatory on a bluff. Zeeshan stares up in amazement.
