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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSNorris Kaplan has spent his whole life certain of exactly two things: he is Canadian, and he hates the state of Texas. When his mother Judith, a linguistics professor, takes a new teaching job in Austin, sixteen-year-old Norris is pulled out of Montreal, away from his best friend Eric and his hockey team, and dropped into Anderson High, a school so enormous it might as well be a mall, where he is one of only a handful of black students. Determined just to survive the two years until graduation, Norris starts a private notebook, a running, sharp-tongued field guide to the locals he keeps meeting, from cheerleaders to jocks to a guidance counselor who hands him a French phrasebook he does not need. Survival gets complicated fast. He lands a busboy job at a barbecue restaurant run by the family of a cheerleader named Maddie, gets talked into helping an oddball rich classmate named Liam start Anderson High's first hockey team, and falls hard for Aarti Puri, a quick-witted, camera-toting girl who seems to belong to a cooler, freer Texas than the one Norris is stuck in. Funny, prickly, and never quite sure which parts of himself he should be hiding, Norris has to figure out how much of Austin he actually wants to let in.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Field Guide to the North American Teenager
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 Field Guide to the North American Teenager. 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 do airport strangers squint at a red shirt whose C has an H in its mouth?
✓ Answer
The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe
The logo belongs to the Montreal Canadiens, and back home it was Norris's instant conversation starter with anyone. In Texas nobody recognizes it, which is his first hint that everything that made him legible in Canada means nothing here.
- First half
In what book does a girl enter her phone number under a contact name that is just a mask?
✓ Answer
The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe
Aarti Puri gives Norris her number at the end of Meredith's party and saves herself under a single small icon. Norris spends days afterward pestering Maddie about what the mask is supposed to mean.
- First half
In what book does a chemistry teacher eat a burger of chicken, bacon, and sausage against a locker?
✓ Answer
The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe
Mr. Goade hides in empty hallways because his wife has him on a plant based diet and they carpool to work together. Norris catches him mid bite, and the two settle into a running teasing dynamic.
- Second half
In what book does a rewritten text promise, "No emotionally manipulative snow globes will be involved"?
✓ Answer
The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe
Maddie takes Norris's phone, reads a month of his overly clever messages, and types a plain honest invitation instead. The snow globe line pokes at the guilt gift he once gave Aarti, and Aarti answers within seconds.
- Second half
In what book do two boys stash a sick teammate in a locked office during a family wedding?
✓ Answer
The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe
With nowhere else to take Patrick after practice, Norris and Liam smuggle him through the Bone Yard kitchen and up into Big Jim's office. Maddie hands over her keys and covers for them while her sister's reception carries on downstairs.
- Near the end
In what book does a girl slam a dance studio door into a boy's forehead to block an apology?
✓ Answer
The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe
Meredith stands guard while Maddie practices inside, and she is visibly proud of the damage she does to Norris on her way out. She tells him a short one syllable command is the best way to deal with guys like him.
