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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSTen-year-old Peter Augustus Duchene lives in the attic of the Apartments Polonaise in the city of Baltese, where his guardian, an old soldier named Vilna Lutz, trains him to be a soldier and has always told him that his baby sister was stillborn. When Peter spends his guardian's coin on a fortuneteller in the market square, she tells him the opposite: his sister is alive, and an elephant will lead him to her. That same evening, an aging magician performing at the Bliffendorf Opera House means to conjure a bouquet of lilies and instead brings an elephant crashing through the roof, landing on a noblewoman and leaving her unable to walk. The elephant is locked away, the magician is thrown in prison, and the gray, snowless city of Baltese grows a little obsessed with the whole strange event. Searching for answers, Peter turns to a kind policeman and his wife for help, and his hope slowly draws in other people across the city, including a nun who guards an orphanage door and a singing beggar with his dog, as he tries to find out what an elephant could possibly have to do with a sister he was told had died.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Magician's Elephant
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 Magician's Elephant. 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 old soldier want bread with mold growing on it?
✓ Answer
The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo
Vilna Lutz, in the grips of a fever, tells Peter that hard old bread makes strong teeth, strong teeth make a strong heart, and a strong heart makes a brave soldier. How it all connects is a mystery to Peter.
- First half
In what book do a dozen craftsmen replace a wall with an enormous painted door in one day?
✓ Answer
The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo
The countess Quintet's grand home has no door big enough for an elephant to walk through, so her workers knock down a wall around the clock. The captain of police then brings the elephant through the new door under cover of night.
- First half
In what book does a dozing nun jump awake shouting that the door is forever unlocked?
✓ Answer
The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo
After dreaming that nobody answers the elephant's knock, Adele goes downstairs in the middle of the night and finds Sister Marie asleep in her chair by the front door. Sister Marie tells her she is always there and turns no one away.
- Second half
In what book does a boy think he might as well have promised "an enormous set of wings"?
✓ Answer
The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo
Walking out of the countess's ballroom, Peter fears that his promise to get the elephant home is one he cannot keep. He does not even know where her home is, so he might as well have promised her an enormous set of wings.
- Second half
In what book does a barefoot policeman answer the door with a bit of carrot in his mustache?
✓ Answer
The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo
Peter runs to Leo Matienne for help and finds him at dinner, barefoot, with a napkin tied around his neck. A bit of carrot and a crumb of bread are caught in Leo's very large mustache.
- Near the end
In what book does lantern light show a prisoner with a wild beard, ragged fingernails and a moldy cloak?
✓ Answer
The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo
Leo Matienne and Peter visit the prison at night, and Leo's lantern shows the magician's long, wild beard, torn fingernails, and cloak covered in a patina of mold. Peter's heart sinks. The man does not look as if he could do any magic at all.
