BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSTwelve-year-old Max Conway is tired of living in the shadow of his dad, a Houston city councilman everyone calls Big Max, and of being known at school as Wrong Way Max after he scored a soccer goal for the other team. When his mom takes him to Lafitte Island, a small beach town on the Texas Gulf Coast, while she researches old hurricanes, Max borrows the name Milo from a newborn giraffe so that nobody there will know whose son he is. The morning after a storm, his golden retriever, Marge, barks at something on the sand. It is an injured octopus with only seven arms, and when one arm curls around his finger, Max refuses to leave her. He sets a tipped-over barbecue grill upright, fills it with seawater and gets her to the Junipers, a family whose big yellow duplex holds a vet clinic on one side and, on the other, their home and wildlife rescue. Their daughter, Ollie Mae, names the octopus Ursula. Soon Max is Ursula's keeper, inventing puzzles for the clever octopus with Ollie, who misses the chimpanzee her family once raised, and Emmett, a beachcombing boy with a YouTube show. Then Max's dad calls with a surprise offer of a spot at zoo camp back in Houston, and Max has to decide whether to leave Ursula early.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Three Blue Hearts
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 Three Blue Hearts. 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 dog bark at what looks like "a deflated volleyball" on the beach?
✓ Answer
Three Blue Hearts by Lynne Kelly
The morning after the storm, Marge pulls Max toward a pile of seaweed, and when he reaches down he sees the "volleyball" has arms lined with suction cups. It's an injured octopus, gray and scratched, with only seven arms.
- First half
In what book does a beachcomber never touch washed-up dolls, afraid they could be haunted?
✓ Answer
Three Blue Hearts by Lynne Kelly
Emmett picks up all kinds of things for his beach show, but he shudders at dolls and thinks someone might have thrown them into the ocean because they're haunted. He tells Max that seeing a doll with barnacles in its eyes would make him believe it too.
- First half
In what book does a mom ask, "Did that gravel just blink?" while searching an empty-looking tank?
✓ Answer
Three Blue Hearts by Lynne Kelly
Max panics when he can't find Ursula anywhere in her tank and runs to get Jordan, who calmly tells everyone to look closer. Ursula has matched the gravel in both color and bumpy texture, and only her barbell-shaped pupils give her away before Jordan lures her out with a tasty shrimp.
- Second half
In what book does a boy grip a doorframe rather than watch puppies being born?
✓ Answer
Three Blue Hearts by Lynne Kelly
Ollie excitedly invites Max to watch Stella's puppies being born, but he freezes and hangs on to the doorframe instead of following her. He tells her he'd rather meet the puppies when they're a day older and a little less new.
- Second half
In what book does a woman meet her husband at an ice cream factory during a salmonella recall?
✓ Answer
Three Blue Hearts by Lynne Kelly
Lurlene tells Max that the Spoonbill ice cream factory once shut down and recalled all its ice cream because of salmonella. She met her husband, Herb, at a prayer vigil held at the factory, and a year later they went back there to get married and served ice cream at the reception.
- Near the end
In what book does a junior zookeeper finally get to wear a green zoo crew shirt?
✓ Answer
Three Blue Hearts by Lynne Kelly
Max had waited years to turn twelve so he could trade his orange camper shirts for a junior zookeeper's green shirt. At zoo camp he finally helps with tours and keeper talks officially, though he keeps thinking about his friends and Ursula back at the beach.
