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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSWhen April Hall is sent to live with her grandmother in a California university-town neighborhood, she meets Melanie Ross and the two girls quickly bond over a shared obsession with ancient Egypt. Together they discover an abandoned storage yard behind a reclusive old man's antique shop, complete with a cracked plaster bust of Nefertiti, and decide it is the perfect secret place to act out their own elaborate Egyptian rituals. What begins as a private game for two grows as other kids join in, and Egypt becomes a world of invented ceremonies, hieroglyphic alphabets, homemade altars, and a mysterious oracle; but the same neighborhood also holds a very real danger that the players cannot imagine from inside their imaginary ancient land.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Egypt Game
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 Egypt Game. 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 four-year-old boy carry a stuffed plush octopus everywhere as his comfort toy?
✓ Answer
The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Marshall, Melanie's little brother, drags his beloved octopus by one of its eight legs everywhere he goes. His father named the toy Security because Marshall clings to it the way other small kids cling to a blanket.
- First half
In what book does a tiny new fourth-grader from an Asian American family resemble the queen on the temple altar?
✓ Answer
The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
When the girls see Elizabeth Chung sitting in profile on the front steps of the apartment, they realize her delicate slender-necked profile resembles their plaster Nefertiti. That resemblance is what convinces them to invite her into the secret game.
- First half
In what book is a strange shopkeeper suspected of murder, leading someone to throw a brick through his store window?
✓ Answer
The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Professor becomes a chief suspect when neighbors see police visit his shop. Three days after the murder, someone throws a brick through one of his store windows, and a rival shopkeeper organizes petitions to drive him out.
- Second half
In what book does a fake rubber shrunken head sit on the altar of an evil god?
✓ Answer
The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
When Ken and Toby finally join the game, they bring sixth-grade-boy treasures for Set's altar. Ken contributes his prized expensive rubber shrunken head, alongside rubber spiders, a real animal skull, a dead tarantula, and a trick dagger.
- Second half
In what book does a sixth-grade boy ask his teacher about oracles in the hopes of dodging a scheduled test?
✓ Answer
The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Toby picks the topic of oracles to set Mrs. Granger off on one of her long-winded explanations and skip the test. The plan backfires, because by the end of the period the whole class, Toby included, is hooked on oracles.
- Near the end
In what book does a girl decline her mother's invitation to Palm Springs over Christmas?
✓ Answer
The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Dorothea writes inviting April to fly down and join her and Nick, but April writes back that she has plans with Grandma and a date with Melanie. The polite refusal shows how her loyalties have shifted to her new home.
