BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSThirteen-year-old Arturo Zamora spends his summer washing dishes at La Cocina de la Isla, the Cuban restaurant his abuela built in Miami's Canal Grove neighborhood. When his best friends Mop and Bren head off for camp and vacation, Arturo is left mostly alone with Carmen Sánchez, his mother's goddaughter, who has come to stay with her father for the summer while she grieves her own mother's death. Then a sharply dressed land developer named Wilfrido Pipo shows up with plans for a glittering high-rise on the empty lot next to the restaurant, and Arturo notices that La Cocina isn't part of Wilfrido's plans at all. Between disguised spy missions to Wilfrido's office, a box of old letters his late grandfather left behind, and his own confused feelings about Carmen, Arturo decides he is going to save his family's restaurant, whatever it takes.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora
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 Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora. 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 boy lie about writing poetry to impress a girl?
✓ Answer
The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Pablo Cartaya
When Carmen mentions she loves poetry, Arturo blurts out that he writes it sometimes, which he admits is a shameless lie. That little fib ends up mattering a lot, because poetry becomes the thing that finally gives him a voice.
- First half
In what book does a boy notice his family's restaurant missing from a model of the town?
✓ Answer
The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Pablo Cartaya
At the developer's open house, Arturo studies the miniature version of Main Street and realizes La Cocina de la Isla simply is not there. That is the moment he understands the new high-rise is not a neighbor, it is a replacement.
- First half
In what book does a grandmother nap through a soap opera about a duchess and a general?
✓ Answer
The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Pablo Cartaya
Arturo comes to tell Abuela the bad news and finds her asleep in her recliner with her favorite telenovela playing. He then explains the wildly complicated plot in detail while insisting he does not watch the show regularly.
- Second half
In what book does a developer call a family dinosaurs and say all that remains are bones?
✓ Answer
The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Pablo Cartaya
Wilfrido leans in close to the whole family at his festival and warns them not to hand out a single flyer. Calling them extinct is his way of saying their old neighborhood restaurant has no place in the future he is selling.
- Second half
In what book does a boy write all night until his pen cracks and ink drips everywhere?
✓ Answer
The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Pablo Cartaya
Alone in Abuela's apartment after her death, Arturo fills page after page about his family, the restaurant, Carmen, and his friends. He passes out on the plastic covered sofa on a bed of papers, and the writing is what finally starts healing him.
- Near the end
In what book does a girl surprise a boy with a rosebush moved from a nursery five blocks away?
✓ Answer
The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Pablo Cartaya
Carmen and the Green Teens haul a floribunda bush to the restaurant for Abuela's memorial dinner and make Arturo close his eyes first. One of its blooms is a white rose, just like the one at the funeral.
