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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSHannah Stern is a twelve-year-old girl in the Bronx who is fed up with her family's Jewish traditions and can't see why anyone should keep dwelling on the past. At her grandparents' Passover Seder, she's sent to open the apartment door for the prophet Elijah, and when she swings it open, the hallway is gone, replaced by a Polish field under a spring moon. She finds herself living as Chaya, an orphaned girl recovering from illness, just in time for the wedding of her uncle Shmuel in the small Jewish village of Viosk, in 1942, while strange black cars and army trucks wait in the town square.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Devil's Arithmetic
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 Devil's Arithmetic. 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 girl open the door for Elijah and find a Polish field instead?
✓ Answer
The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
Hannah opens her grandparents' apartment door to welcome the prophet during the Seder, but instead of a windowless hallway she sees a greening field with a ripe moon hanging between gray clouds. A man with a hoe is marching across the furrows, and her time travel has begun.
- First half
In what book does a frightened girl ask the bridegroom what year it is?
✓ Answer
The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
Hannah turns slowly to the bridegroom, afraid she might not be quick enough, and begs him to tell her the year. Fayge answers that it is 5701, the Hebrew calendar year, and the badchan adds that on the Christian calendar it is 1942, several days before Passover.
- First half
In what book does a woman sing an angry song about a chaper in a packed army truck?
✓ Answer
The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
On the truck rolling away from the village, Gitl tries lullabies to soothe the children but ends up singing an angry song about a kidnapper who drags men into the army. The wailing minor notes spread from truck to truck as the men join in at the top of their voices.
- Second half
In what book does a brutal supervisor have only three fingers on one hand?
✓ Answer
The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
The blokova who runs the women's barracks is missing two fingers. Each one was cut off as punishment when prisoners under her control rebelled or died on her watch, a gruesome marker of the riots and suicides at the camp.
- Second half
In what book do women describe stealing things in the camp as "organizing" them?
✓ Answer
The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
Rivka teaches Chaya that finding shoes, sweaters, or medicines is called organizing, a polite name for stealing under the guards' noses. Gitl later organizes a blue scarf from the sorting shed as a present.
- Near the end
In what book does a girl scrape burned potato pieces from a giant soup cauldron as a treat?
✓ Answer
The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
Chaya and Shifre work in the kitchen scrubbing the cauldrons and stealing little burned bits of potato stuck to the bottom. Even the crusty scraps taste better than anything else they get to eat.
