BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSSixth-grader Beth Bradley is used to sharing Woodrow Wilson Elementary School with the six Herdman kids, widely agreed to be the worst children in the history of the world. They steal, bite, smoke cigars, and cause chaos everywhere they go. But this year Beth's teacher, Miss Kemp, assigns something that makes even a science project involving live mice sound appealing: every student must come up with a genuine compliment for each classmate, and on the last day of school they will each read their compliments to the one person whose name they draw from a hat. Finding something nice to say about most kids is hard enough. Finding something nice to say about Imogene Herdman is going to be nearly impossible.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Best School Year Ever
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 Best School Year Ever. 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 town clerk drink frogs by accident from a drinking fountain?
✓ Answer
The Best School Year Ever by Barbara Robinson
Gladys and Ollie put tiny frogs in the town hall drinking fountain. Miss Farley, the town clerk, isn't wearing her glasses and slurps two or three off the bubbler before someone hollers at her. She chases the kids around the block in revenge.
- First half
In what book does a boy bury a classmate up to his neck in a trash masher barrel?
✓ Answer
The Best School Year Ever by Barbara Robinson
When Charlie refuses to tell Leroy how he became Good Citizen, Leroy stuffs Charlie up to his neck in the trash masher. The janitor catches it just before mashing the trash, and afterward declares the building can have a trash masher or it can have Herdmans, but not both.
- First half
In what book does a boy crack walnuts on his forehead one after another in front of an audience?
✓ Answer
The Best School Year Ever by Barbara Robinson
Eugene strolls onstage at the talent show carrying a big bowl of walnuts and starts smashing them with his head, faster and faster. Kids count along while his mother nearly faints, moaning about scrambled brains. He doesn't win first prize, but he becomes a celebrity.
- Second half
In what book do kids stuff stolen baby turtles down classmates' shirts on a bus?
✓ Answer
The Best School Year Ever by Barbara Robinson
Claude and Leroy slip stolen baby turtles down kids' backs on Bus 6, thinking the turtles are dead. The turtles wake up, the kids freak out, and it takes a week to round all the turtles up.
- Second half
In what book does a tough girl secretly give her own old baby blanket to a crying little boy?
✓ Answer
The Best School Year Ever by Barbara Robinson
When Howard's blanket is accidentally thrown away, Imogene shows up with a replacement she claims to have found under a bush. Beth notices the initials I.H. faintly written on it and realizes it was Imogene's own old blanket.
- Near the end
In what book does a real pizza-oven fire get mistaken for a staged fire safety demo?
✓ Answer
The Best School Year Ever by Barbara Robinson
Mr. Santoro's pizza ovens catch fire half an hour before the firehouse award presentation, and the smoky crowd follows the engine to watch. The reporter writes that the fire was staged on purpose.
