BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSOwen Conners is sure nothing is more boring than fractions, until he watches his classmate Bethany climb out of a library copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with chocolate on her fingers. Bethany can jump into books. Her father is a fictional character who went missing after she accidentally pulled him into a book at her fourth birthday party, and she secretly searches stories for him even though her mother forbids it. Owen, who helps out at his mom's library, loves the Kiel Gnomenfoot fantasy series, whose sixth book ends with the mad scientist Dr. Verity attacking Kiel's teacher, the Magister. Owen offers Bethany a location spell from the Magister's spell book if she takes him inside. What he doesn't mention is his real plan to save the Magister himself, even though Bethany's rules forbid changing a story.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Story Thieves
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 Story Thieves. 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 find a chocolate-stained library book lying under a school locker?
✓ Answer
Story Thieves by James Riley
After Bethany catches Owen staring at her in the cafeteria and storms off, he follows to apologize and finds the hallway empty except for the copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory she was just reading. It comes from his mom's library and has chocolate stains on it, and he drops it in his bag.
- First half
In what book does a chapter end in the middle of a word, with the next chapter finishing it?
✓ Answer
Story Thieves by James Riley
Just as Nobody appears, Owen thinks it would be the perfect place for a new chapter, and Chapter 13 cuts off halfway through the word. Chapter 14 opens with the rest of it.
- First half
In what book does a girl jump into the blank back page of an instruction manual?
✓ Answer
Story Thieves by James Riley
Stuck in Porterhouse's basement with no books, Bethany finds an instruction manual and wonders whether she even needs a story to jump. She grabs Jonathan Porterhouse's hand and jumps them both into a bright white empty space.
- Second half
In what book does the very first computer ever made smell like sour milk?
✓ Answer
Story Thieves by James Riley
Owen, disguised as Kiel, and Charm ride a search tube into the Original Computer on Quanterium, a world made of streams of zeroes and ones. Charm says it even smells out of date, and Owen notices an odd sour-milk odor.
- Second half
In what book does ocean water blast like a fire hose from a book's pages at goblins?
✓ Answer
Story Thieves by James Riley
The Magister has emptied the mansion library, so Bethany sticks her hand into pages of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and pulls out the ocean. The water knocks most of the goblins out and leaves a few fish flopping on the library floor.
- Near the end
In what book does a teenage magician pick dungeon locks with a piece of hay?
✓ Answer
Story Thieves by James Riley
The Magister has wiped Kiel's spells with a forget spell and locked him and Bethany in his tower's dungeon. Kiel asks Bethany to remember the title of his first book, and she realizes he is a magical thief who knows how to pick locks.
