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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSIn June 1957, Spain is ruled by the dictator Francisco Franco, and eighteen-year-old Daniel Matheson, a Texas oilman's son, arrives at Madrid's Castellana Hilton with his parents and a new camera. He wants to be a photojournalist and hopes a photography prize will pay for journalism school. Within a day of arriving, he has his film taken by the Guardia Civil. Ana, the maid assigned to his family, lives in the poor Vallecas neighborhood and must never speak publicly about her parents. Her brother Rafa digs graves with his friend Fuga, an orphan who dreams of becoming a matador, and her cousin Puri cares for babies at the city's orphanage. As Daniel and Ana grow closer, his camera starts catching things that Franco's Spain expects people to keep quiet about.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Fountains of Silence
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 Fountains of Silence. 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 an orphan baby wear a brass medallion engraved with the number 20 116?
✓ Answer
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
Babies at the Inclusa are known by numbers, and Puri turns over the brass medallion hanging from a white string to read 20 116. This baby is sin datos, meaning she arrived at the orphanage with no information at all.
- First half
In what book are a gravedigger's only possessions a Miura bull clipping and a hand-painted pendant of Mary?
✓ Answer
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
Fuga sleeps on a straw pallet in the corrugated metal cemetery shed. Apart from his tattered clothes, Rafa knows of only two things he owns, a magazine clipping of a Miura bull and a small gold pendant painted with the Blessed Mother.
- First half
In what book do five characters confess in turn, one loving confession, one fearing it, one hating it?
✓ Answer
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
One after another, Rafa, Julia, Ana, Puri, and Daniel each go to confession. Rafa loves confession, Julia is grateful for it, Ana fears it, Puri hates it, and Daniel may need it after what he is about to do.
- Second half
In what book does a Texan teach a maid the two-step at a sweltering schoolhouse dance?
✓ Answer
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
At the Sunday night dance in the Vallecas schoolhouse, Daniel cuts in on Nick and teaches Ana the Texas two-step, "Quick, quick, slow, slow." When he asks whether they need a chaperone, she laughs that they have a hundred chaperones there.
- Second half
In what book does a young photographer keep his negatives hidden inside a cowboy boot?
✓ Answer
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
After three photos vanish from the wall of his suite and Ana warns that someone has been in his room, Daniel rushes to the closet and pulls his negatives from inside his cowboy boot, relieved they are safe. Ben had warned him to keep his negatives in a safe place, and the book never reveals who took the missing photos.
- Near the end
In what book, in 1975, does a Texan calming horses during a storm threatening tornadoes hear of a dictator's death?
✓ Answer
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
Eighteen years after Madrid, Daniel spends a stormy night in the stable trying to calm the horses during tornado threats. At three in the morning a CBS News bulletin on the radio announces that Franco has died after ruling for thirty-six years.
