BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSEleven-year-old Eben McAllister lives in Sassafras Springs, Missouri, a small farming town so obscure it doesn't even appear on the schoolhouse map. In the summer of 1923, Eben is obsessed with a book about the Seven Wonders of the ancient world and dreams of traveling the globe on a tramp steamer someday. When he complains that Sassafras Springs has nothing worth seeing, his father makes him a deal: find seven genuine Wonders right there in their own community within seven days, and Pa will buy him a train ticket to visit cousins in Colorado. Convinced that nothing in their plain little town could possibly measure up to pyramids or colossal lighthouses, Eben sets out with his dog Sal to prove himself wrong.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs
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 Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs. 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 Sunday school teacher show a boy a shriveled applehead doll called Miss Zeldy?
✓ Answer
The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs by Betty G. Birney
Mrs. Pritchard tells Eben that the doll, made from a dried apple with yellow yarn hair, saved her life as a sick child. Eben thinks it looks ugly as sin.
- First half
In what book do a mother and daughter pick wild goldenseal, horsetail, and nettle to sell for medicines?
✓ Answer
The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs by Betty G. Birney
Eulie and Violet Rowan support themselves by taking in washing, picking herbs, and making brooms in winter. A man from the city stops by the general store every few weeks to buy.
- First half
In what book does a boy save his family's corn crop from grasshoppers by playing music on a handsaw?
✓ Answer
The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs by Betty G. Birney
In Calvin Smiley's story, the swarm covers the sky like a green cloud a mile across. Young Calvin runs to the rain barrel with his saw, and the grasshoppers retreat like a tide going out.
- Second half
In what book does a boy get tricked into entering an outhouse that tips over with him inside?
✓ Answer
The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs by Betty G. Birney
Coogie and Albert promised proof on the wall, but the outhouse only had one seat and crashed sideways with Eben inside. Eben crawls out through the low window covered in spider webs.
- Second half
In what book does a girl bring a dusty ship in a bottle to a barn at milking time?
✓ Answer
The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs by Betty G. Birney
Rae Ellen marches into the barn while Eben is milking, carrying a raggedy burlap bag. The ship in a bottle is her so-called Wonderful and was supposedly given to her by her uncle Dutch.
- Near the end
In what book does a man carve a tiny version of his whole town on a table?
✓ Answer
The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs by Betty G. Birney
Uncle Alf's lifelong carving project covers his entire dining room table in miniature. Every house, road, and resident is reproduced with up-to-the-moment accuracy.
