BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSThe Hero Two Doors Down opens in December 1959, when twenty year old Steve Satlow loses his father, Archie, and finds a box of old keepsakes his dad had secretly saved for him. One item, a ticket stub from a 1948 Brooklyn Dodgers game, carries Steve back to when he was eight years old and living on Tilden Avenue in Brooklyn, a Jewish kid who loved the Dodgers more than almost anything. That spring, Steve gets the news of his life, a Brooklyn Dodgers player is about to move in two doors down, and it turns out to be Jackie Robinson himself, arriving with his wife, Rachel, and toddler son. Steve spends weeks trying to catch a glimpse of his hero, and once he finally does, it grows into a real friendship that carries him through ballgames at Ebbets Field, a schoolyard fight, and a Hanukkah his family will never forget.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Hero Two Doors Down
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 Hero Two Doors Down. 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 invite a boy over for Scrabble and homemade egg creams?
✓ Answer
The Hero Two Doors Down by Sharon Robinson
Sena invites Steve over after school and promises her mom will make egg creams with Fox's U bet syrup. Little neighborhood treats like this are how the book shows off 1940s Brooklyn.
- First half
In what book does a boy ask his shoemaker father to build a safer baseball cleat?
✓ Answer
The Hero Two Doors Down by Sharon Robinson
Steve knows runners sometimes slide into second base with their cleats pointed forward, so he asks Archie to design a shoe that would protect Jackie from being spiked. Archie calls it a wonderful idea, and it shows how Steve turns his worry into helping.
- First half
In what book does an impatient boy kick the wall of an old fragile stadium?
✓ Answer
The Hero Two Doors Down by Sharon Robinson
Archie makes Steve wait by a side gate instead of going in for batting practice, and Steve kicks the wall in frustration before remembering how old Ebbets Field is. He has no idea his father is secretly waiting for Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella to walk up.
- Second half
In what book do teammates taunt a boy with "Go home to your mother" during a school yard game?
✓ Answer
The Hero Two Doors Down by Sharon Robinson
After Steve's error lets in two runs, the older boys swarm him and call him a sissy instead of checking whether he is hurt. Steve is one of the smallest kids on the field, and the insults push him into his first fistfight.
- Second half
In what book do a father and son spend a whole summer building a balsa wood airplane?
✓ Answer
The Hero Two Doors Down by Sharon Robinson
The L-17 model kit is Steve's birthday present from his parents, and Archie says it is a big step up from the kits Steve used to finish in an afternoon. Working on it in the basement most Sundays becomes the thing that keeps father and son close all summer.
- Near the end
In what book do parents ask their son to give up one of his eight holiday gifts?
✓ Answer
The Hero Two Doors Down by Sharon Robinson
Sarah explains that the money saved will go to UNICEF to help Arab and Jewish children caught in the Arab Israeli War. Steve is disappointed at first, but he agrees, and his parents call it doing a mitzvah.
