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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSThe Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is narrated by Jane Pittman, a 110-year-old Black woman living on a Louisiana plantation in 1962, who agrees to tell her life story to a local schoolteacher before the summer ends. Jane was born into slavery under the name Ticey, and the story begins at the close of the Civil War when she is about eleven years old, newly freed, and determined to walk north to Ohio after a Yankee soldier gives her the name Jane and promises her a better life there. Armed with nothing but a bundle of potatoes and the company of a small orphaned boy named Ned, she sets out on a journey that quickly teaches her how dangerous, uncertain, and vast the world is for two Black children alone in the post-war South.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
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 The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. 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 slave girl get whipped by her mistress for refusing to answer to the name Ticey?
✓ Answer
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines
After the Yankee soldier renames her, the girl insists on her new name in front of her mistress. Her master has two other slaves hold her down while the mistress whips her bloody, asking each time what her name is, but she keeps repeating the new name.
- First half
In what book do hooded riders kick in a freed woman's door at night looking for her grown adopted son?
✓ Answer
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines
Eight or nine men in sheets ride to her cabin on a full-moon winter night. Three burst in, slap her twice, kick the bench into the fire, and demand to know where Ned is hiding. They leave threatening to come back.
- First half
In what book does a horse breaker get dragged through the swamps after roping a wild stallion bareback?
✓ Answer
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines
After the stallion escapes, Joe rides out to catch it without a saddle. He corners the horse and ropes it, but with no saddle horn to anchor the rope, the stallion jerks him to the ground and drags him to death through the swamp.
- Second half
In what book does Huey Long give poor sharecroppers' children free schoolbooks?
✓ Answer
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines
Huey Long is praised by the narrator for bringing free schoolbooks to the plantation children after he took office, the year after the great flood of 1927.
- Second half
In what book is a teacher horrified to find two boys hanging in sacks above smoking green moss?
✓ Answer
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines
Tee Bo and Tee Lo are being smoked by their father Oscar as punishment for sassing old people. The teacher is carried out of the yard and given a whack on the behind.
- Near the end
In what book does a boy lie about Jackie Robinson's stolen bases to cheer up a sick old woman?
✓ Answer
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines
When Jimmy learns the narrator isn't feeling well, he invents extra hits and stolen bases for Jackie. He takes them back on days Jackie really did play well, to even out his lies.
