BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSIn the town of Stone-in-the-Glen, a group of fifteen orphans secretly befriends a large, gentle ogress who lives at the edge of the woods. The Ogress is kind and generous, baking food she leaves on doorsteps each night, but the town blames her for a string of missing things and treats her as a monster. The orphans discover the truth about her good heart through the crows who serve as her messengers and through their own late-night visits to her crooked house. Together, the children and the Ogress hatch a plan to change how their neighbors think, all while a suspicious mayor works harder and harder to keep the town frightened and divided.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Ogress and the Orphans
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 Ogress and the Orphans. 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 have one hazel eye and one eye like milk spilled across the sky?
✓ Answer
The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill
Bartleby has mismatched eyes. One is hazel with green and gold flecks that sees fine details, while the other is pale like skimmed milk and only sees light and shadows. He says it lets him be of two minds about most things.
- First half
In what book does a mayor accidentally say, "Thank the Antelope," before quickly correcting himself?
✓ Answer
The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill
As he ends the visit and turns to go inside, the Mayor bows and booms, "Thank the Antelope for you, my good, good woman!" He blanches when Matron questions it and stammers that he meant to say thank the skies. It is a major clue to his secret identity.
- First half
In what book does a runaway girl shelter in an abandoned donkey enclosure during a cold rain?
✓ Answer
The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill
After running away, Cass shelters her first night in the old donkey enclosure next to the abandoned mill. The rain pours, she shivers in a thin blanket, and she rests her chin on her knees waiting for morning to come.
- Second half
In what book does a tall woman with stony skin carry a sleeping sick child home in the night?
✓ Answer
The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill
After nursing the feverish Cass through the day, the giant woman carries her home wrapped in blankets along with a cart of vegetables, leaving her at the gate.
- Second half
In what book do other crows refuse to believe one of their own can talk to children?
✓ Answer
The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill
When Harold tells the other crows that the children at the house speak Crow, they accuse him of making things up and giving himself airs.
- Near the end
In what book does a boy on crutches rappel down a wall by reading instructions from books?
✓ Answer
The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill
Hiram tosses his crutches out the window and shimmies down the rope first, then says he learned how from books, even surprising his siblings with a hidden ladder.
