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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSTwelve-year-old Jack Nottingham, who everyone calls Nim, short for Nimble, thanks to his knack for climbing out of trouble, is an orphan who lives alone with his scruffy dog, Winnie, in an abandoned fruit warehouse on the London docks during the Blitz of 1940. When Nim and his friend Mouse break into a bombed-out mansion called Gravenhurst Manor looking for something to sell for food, they find a hidden laboratory beneath the house and a locked safe holding a strange black candle. The candle turns out to be no ordinary candle. Within moments of Nim touching it, a living shadow bursts free and slips off into the blacked-out city, and soon after, kids across London start falling gravely ill, Winnie among them. To save his dog and the growing number of sick children, Nim has to track down the manor's strange, bandaged owner, team up with rival orphan gangs he has spent his whole life avoiding, and figure out how to hunt down something that is not supposed to exist.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Dark Times of Nimble Nottingham
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 Dark Times of Nimble Nottingham. 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 faded map reading "LONDON and THE BLACK DEATH, 1666 AD" hide a safe combination?
✓ Answer
The Dark Times of Nimble Nottingham by Ryan James Black
The framed map swings open like a door to reveal a bug-covered iron safe, and Nim, who hates math, suddenly feels certain the date in the title is the code. He dials sixteen, six, six, and the handle turns.
- First half
In what book does a boy admit stealing cat food through a shelter's third-story window?
✓ Answer
The Dark Times of Nimble Nottingham by Ryan James Black
While deciding whether to take Winnie to the animal shelter on Battersea Road, Nim remembers he has already met the veterinarian there, sort of, because the man chased him. He calls it one of his least proud and most hungry moments.
- First half
In what book do two children live above a school painted like a giant clown's face?
✓ Answer
The Dark Times of Nimble Nottingham by Ryan James Black
Abby and Mouse live in a flat above a closed circus arts academy with windows for eyes and a red awning for a nose. Nim thinks it is nearly as terrifying as the monster in the blackout, but downstairs it is packed with trunks, trampolines, and a half dismantled clown car.
- Second half
In what book does a boy open a stone coffin expecting a secret passage and find bones?
✓ Answer
The Dark Times of Nimble Nottingham by Ryan James Black
Nim announces triumphantly that the secret entrance must be inside Victor Gravenhurst's sarcophagus, then shoves the lid aside and gets a skeleton and a knot of worms instead. Mouse quietly finds the real entrance, a plain hole in the floor, moments later.
- Second half
In what book does a man explain that Cricket, the name he mutters constantly, was his son's nickname?
✓ Answer
The Dark Times of Nimble Nottingham by Ryan James Black
Allister has been talking to someone Nim cannot see since the day they met, and Nim assumed he was simply cracked. The boy was always chirping and jumping about, so the nickname stuck early, and hearing the story is the first time Nim understands he is dealing with a grieving father.
- Near the end
In what book does a mustached peddler sell bottles of Four Thieves Vinegar to a frightened crowd?
✓ Answer
The Dark Times of Nimble Nottingham by Ryan James Black
A stump shaped showman on the riverbank promises a medieval thieves' recipe will cure the plague sweeping the city. His sales pitch about ingredients all working together accidentally hands Nim the idea to unite the rival gangs.
