BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSKino is a poor Mexican pearl diver living in a small brush hut near the Gulf with his wife Juana and their infant son Coyotito. When a scorpion stings the baby and the town doctor refuses to treat a family that cannot pay, Kino dives the oyster beds desperate to find a pearl large enough to buy Coyotito the medical care he needs. What he pulls from the water instead is an enormous, luminous pearl unlike anything seen before, and in an instant his world fills with plans for a church wedding, new clothes, a rifle, and above all an education for his son. But the pearl also draws every greedy eye in La Paz, and from the moment it surfaces, Kino senses something dark moving in underneath his song of hope.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Pearl
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 Pearl. 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 scorpion creep down a rope toward a baby in a hanging box?
✓ Answer
The Pearl by John Steinbeck
This is the famous scorpion scene that opens the story's conflict. Coyotito reaches up and laughs at the scorpion, then shakes the rope, causing it to fall and sting him. The moment sets the entire tragedy in motion.
- First half
In what book does a doctor with an aged patient let his mind drift to a Paris restaurant?
✓ Answer
The Pearl by John Steinbeck
When news of Kino's fortune reaches the physician, he is sitting with a woman whose illness was age. He looks past her and sees himself in a Paris restaurant, a waiter opening a bottle of wine. The doctor's longing for Europe drives his greed.
- First half
In what book does a poor father declare, "My son will read and open the books"?
✓ Answer
The Pearl by John Steinbeck
Kino tells his neighbors his son will read and open the books, write and know writing, make numbers, and these things will make them free. Steinbeck notes he had never said so many words together in his life.
- Second half
In what book does a dealer compare the treasure to fool's gold because it is too large for any market?
✓ Answer
The Pearl by John Steinbeck
The lead appraiser sneers that the find is like fool's gold, large but useless. Kino, who has dreamed of a new life, realizes the men of the city are colluding to cheat him.
- Second half
In what book does a fisherman, struck down outside his hut, suffer a long deep slash from ear to chin?
✓ Answer
The Pearl by John Steinbeck
When Kino is attacked in the dark, Juana finds him with a deep cut running from ear to chin. It is the second attack in two nights, and it comes hours after the dealers refuse to pay a fair price.
- Near the end
In what book is a husband pursued by two trackers on foot and a dark horseman with a rifle?
✓ Answer
The Pearl by John Steinbeck
Hiding by the road, Kino spots three pursuers approaching. The two on foot read sign like hounds while the mounted man carries a rifle across his saddle.
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