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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSFourteen-year-old Lincoln Mendoza is a star basketball player who has recently moved with his mother from the Mission District of San Francisco, a Latino neighborhood he loved, to Sycamore, a quiet, mostly white suburb. Now playing for Columbus Junior High instead of his old school, Franklin, Lincoln struggles to fit in at a school where nearly everyone is wealthier and no one looks like him. When Columbus is scheduled to play Franklin in an upcoming league game, Lincoln is caught between two worlds: the barrio where he grew up and the suburb where he now lives, the teammates he plays with and the friends he left behind.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Taking Sides
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 Taking Sides. 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 coach mock a boy for hurting his "itsy-bitsy toe" at practice?
✓ Answer
Taking Sides by Gary Soto
Coach Yesutis mocks Lincoln when he removes his shoe to check his hurt toe. None of the other players laugh along, and Lincoln stares at the coach angrily, wondering why he is always picked on.
- First half
In what book does a boy learn in history class that chickens came to Egypt from India?
✓ Answer
Taking Sides by Gary Soto
In Mrs. Wade's history class, Lincoln learns that chickens were brought from India to Egypt. He smiles picturing hordes of chickens clucking over sand dunes and boarding boats up the Nile.
- First half
In what book does an old thrift shop owner wear gardening gloves splotched with white paint?
✓ Answer
Taking Sides by Gary Soto
The viejo at the thrift shop on Dolores Street wears paint-spotted gardening gloves. His weakened hands and broken teeth make Lincoln doubt that he could have stolen anything, even though Tony insists he's a crook.
- Second half
In what book does a boy lie that he attends "Saint Jay" because he forgot his mother's church name?
✓ Answer
Taking Sides by Gary Soto
Lincoln is trying to impress Monica on the basketball court and pretends he goes to church regularly. When she asks which one, he panics and invents Saint Jay, and she answers right away that she has never heard of a Saint Jay.
- Second half
In what book does a boy nail his own front door shut after a break-in?
✓ Answer
Taking Sides by Gary Soto
After the intruder runs off, Lincoln hammers the pried-open front door shut and uses the back door instead. Flaco lies on the steps blinking each time the hammer bangs, watching Lincoln deal with the mess.
- Near the end
In what book does a boy receive an envelope with four dirty one-dollar bills as payment for a 49ers bet?
✓ Answer
Taking Sides by Gary Soto
Lincoln tears open a small envelope from Tony and finds the dirty bills inside, no note included. It is Tony's way of paying off the bet on the football game and a small sign that their friendship may not be completely broken.
