BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSSylvia Mendez is about to start third grade. Her family has just leased an asparagus farm in Westminster, California, from a Japanese family who had to leave because of the war. When her Aunt Soledad takes the children to sign up at Westminster School, Sylvia sees monkey bars and brand-new textbooks. But the secretary says Sylvia and her brothers must go to Hoover School, "the Mexican school," even though her fair-skinned cousins could enroll. Back at the farm, Sylvia finds a Japanese doll and a class photo hidden on a high shelf in her closet. The name on the photo is Aki Munemitsu. If a Japanese girl could go to Westminster School, Sylvia wonders, why can't she? The chapters switch back and forth between the two girls. Aki's chapters go back in time to show how her family had to leave the farm after the attack on Pearl Harbor and go to a camp in the Arizona desert. In Sylvia's chapters, her father decides to fight the unfair rule.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Sylvia & Aki
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 Sylvia & Aki. 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 radio bulletin interrupt a piano sonata while a girl does long-division homework?
✓ Answer
Sylvia & Aki by Winifred Conkling
On Sunday, December 7, 1941, Aki is working on math at the dining room table when a news bulletin announces that Pearl Harbor has been attacked. Her mother tells her it means there will be war, and soon Aki's whole world changes.
- First half
In what book does a second grader yell after touching the electric wire on a cow-pasture fence beside the school?
✓ Answer
Sylvia & Aki by Winifred Conkling
During lunch on Sylvia's first day at Hoover School, a younger boy reaches for the shiny top wire of the pasture fence and gets shocked. Sylvia's new friend Ramona says it always happens to a new kid on the first day of school.
- First half
In what book does a father deliver a letter with only eight signatures because it's the right thing to do?
✓ Answer
Sylvia & Aki by Winifred Conkling
After weeks of asking people to sign his letter to the school board saying Mexican and white children should go to school together, Sylvia's father has only eight names. He drops it off at the courthouse in Santa Ana anyway, even though so few people were willing to sign.
- Second half
In what book does a brother waiting outside a mess hall lift his little sister right off the ground?
✓ Answer
Sylvia & Aki by Winifred Conkling
Seiko is waiting outside the mess hall when Aki finally arrives at Poston, and he lifts her off the ground and says "Welcome home, little sister." Aki hugs him back, but she can't imagine the hot, dusty place ever feeling like home without Pop.
- Second half
In what book is a court case filed for five parents, one from each of five school districts?
✓ Answer
Sylvia & Aki by Winifred Conkling
On March 2, 1945, Mr. Marcus files the case for Sylvia's father and four other parents, one from each of the five school districts in Orange County. This shows that the unfair treatment of Mexican students isn't only happening at Hoover School.
- Near the end
In what book do camp movie nights find a girl scanning the men in the dark for her father?
✓ Answer
Sylvia & Aki by Winifred Conkling
Aki hasn't seen Pop in more than two years, and she misses him most on movie nights, when families sit together in the auditorium. When the lights dim, she searches the crowd for him, just in case he is there in the dark looking for her too.
