BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSSolimar is almost fifteen years old and about to be crowned a princess of San Gregorio, a highland kingdom in a richly imagined Mexico where monarch butterflies are sacred. A few weeks before her quinceañera, she crosses a forbidden creek to watch the first wave of monarchs arrive in the oyamel fir forest, and something magical happens: a swarm of butterflies lands on her red silk rebozo and the fabric begins to shimmer with their wings. She soon discovers that she has been chosen as a protector for the weakest of the migrating butterflies, and that the rebozo now gives her flashes of intuition about the near future, but only when she stands in sunlight. Before she can figure out what any of it means, a power-hungry neighboring king, Aveno, seizes her mother and the rest of the castle's people as hostages and plans to capture Solimar so he can use her gift for his own schemes, forcing her to escape alone and attempt a dangerous river journey to warn her father.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs
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 Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs. 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 hear ancient chanting while butterflies swirl around her in an iridescent mist?
✓ Answer
Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs by Pam Muñoz Ryan
When the swarm encircles Solimar in the forest, a haunting chorus of voices reaches a crescendo. This is the moment the ancestral spirits choose her as their courier, embedding the butterflies into her red rebozo.
- First half
In what book do tiny rag dolls on a mantel chatter, wink, and offer warnings about "impending doom"?
✓ Answer
Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs by Pam Muñoz Ryan
The charmed muñecas de trapo on Doña Flor's mantel speak in multiple languages and offer warnings about angering ancestral spirits. They scare Solimar at first, but they turn out to be generous helpers.
- First half
In what book does a grandmother fool guards by claiming she sent her granddaughter for a sewing basket?
✓ Answer
Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs by Pam Muñoz Ryan
When the guards demand the missing heroine, Abuela invents an errand involving a sewing basket, a little gold book, and an embroidery circle. The story is really a coded clue pointing the heroine to the secret library passageway.
- Second half
In what book is a homemade raft named La Magdalena after the builder's mother?
✓ Answer
Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs by Pam Muñoz Ryan
Berto names the raft after his mother Magdalena. She has never lost faith in his father's dreams or in Berto's ability to carry them out for Valle Granada.
- Second half
In what book do two children slide down a natural stone flume to escape a cave?
✓ Answer
Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs by Pam Muñoz Ryan
From a ledge ten stories up, they spot a water-slicked rockslide curving away. Berto calls it a natural flume, and they slide down with him holding her from behind.
- Near the end
In what book does a girl disguise herself as a boy by tucking her hair under a knit cap?
✓ Answer
Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs by Pam Muñoz Ryan
Solimar realizes the guards will be looking for a princess-to-be and her pet bird, not two boys. She puts on work clothes and pulls a cap low over her ears.
