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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSAnne Frank is a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl living in Amsterdam who receives a diary for her birthday on June 12, 1942, and begins writing letters to an imaginary friend she calls Kitty. Three weeks later her older sister Margot receives a call-up notice from the SS, and the Frank family immediately puts into motion a plan that Otto Frank has been preparing for months: going into hiding in a concealed set of rooms at the back of his office building at 263 Prinsengracht. Anne carries the diary with her into the Secret Annex, where she will live with her parents, her sister, and eventually four other people, cut off from the outside world, and the diary becomes her closest confidant as she records the tensions and small routines of daily life in hiding, her quarrels with the adults around her, her longing for freedom and friendship, and her growing sense of herself as a writer with something important to say.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Diary of Anne Frank
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 Diary of Anne Frank. 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 wear layers of undershirts, a dress, and a raincoat to leave home in summer?
✓ Answer
The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
Because no Jew could be seen carrying a suitcase, the narrator layered up to bring as many clothes as she could. She describes nearly suffocating under the layers as the family walked through the rain to the hiding place.
- First half
In what book are the warehouse and attic cats named for the German and English sides of the war?
✓ Answer
The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
Because the warehouse cat always attacked but the attic cat always won, the firm jokingly named them Boche, after a slur for Germans, and Tommy, after the British soldiers. Boche stays on as the warehouse cat after Tommy is given away.
- First half
In what book is a beloved fountain pen accidentally tossed into the stove with a pile of rotten beans?
✓ Answer
The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
The narrator writes an Ode to her beloved fountain pen after sweeping rotten beans into a newspaper and dumping them in the stove without realizing the pen was hidden in the pile. The next day Otto finds only the metal clip in the ashes.
- Second half
In what book does a teenage girl in hiding write, "I want to go on living even after my death!"?
✓ Answer
The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
On April 5, 1944, the narrator records this line while reflecting on her ambition to become a journalist and a writer. The hope that her writing would outlast her has become one of the most quoted lines she wrote.
- Second half
In what book does Mr. van Daan slam an axe against the floor to scare off burglars?
✓ Answer
The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
During the April 11, 1944 break-in, after Mr. van Daan yells "Police!" at the burglars and they flee, the panel is replaced. When the burglars try again, Mr. van Daan slams an axe against the floor to frighten them off.
- Near the end
In what book are twenty-four crates of strawberries hauled upstairs in the middle of the day?
✓ Answer
The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
On July 8, 1944, Mr. Broks delivers twenty-four crates of strawberries from a produce auction. The hidden residents and office staff frantically can them and make jam together. For two days they eat nothing but strawberries.
