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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSMia Harjo Horowitz is twelve and lives in Los Angeles with her mom, Monica, and stepfather, Roger, surrounded by challah, Shabbat candles, and Hebrew school. Her father, Van, is Muscogee, but he lives far away in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and Mia's mom rarely talks about him. When a classmate grills her with a checklist of stereotypes and decides she doesn't measure up, Mia realizes she cannot answer a single one of his questions and barely knows anything about that side of her own family. A library book she hopes will teach her something only leaves her angrier, since it is full of tired stereotypes about Native Americans. Then a card arrives from her father with a check inside and an invitation to visit. Mia starts saving her bat mitzvah money and hatching a plan to get to Oklahoma without telling her mother.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Two Tribes
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 Two Tribes. 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 girl check out a school library book hoping to learn about her Native heritage?
✓ Answer
Two Tribes by Emily Bowen Cohen
After Justin's taunts, Mia kneels at the history shelf of her Jewish day school library and pulls out an old maroon volume with a cartoon settler girl on the cover. What she reads inside turns out to be full of ugly stereotypes, and her anger about it grows all through the story.
- First half
In what book does a mother happily sign a permission slip for a weekend trip her daughter never takes?
✓ Answer
Two Tribes by Emily Bowen Cohen
Mia asks her mom to sign for a Shabbaton, and Monica is delighted, picturing songs and walks and yummy food. The signed slip is really the cover story for a bus ride halfway across the country.
- First half
In what book does a girl compare clan rules to a genetic illness Jewish families get tested for?
✓ Answer
Two Tribes by Emily Bowen Cohen
After Nova explains that you cannot marry inside your clan, Mia says it reminds her of Tay-Sachs testing. Nova jokes back that since clans come through your mother, Mia must be Tay-Sachs Clan, and Mia laughs that her own mom would like the joke.
- Second half
In what book is a girl's first stomp dance attempt teased as "more like the Running Man"?
✓ Answer
Two Tribes by Emily Bowen Cohen
Melinda bursts out laughing when Mia tries the steps in her new ribbon skirt and red sneakers. Mia is embarrassed, but she joins the dance line anyway a few minutes later.
- Second half
In what book does a father give his daughter a beaded necklace she admired at a booth?
✓ Answer
Two Tribes by Emily Bowen Cohen
Gramma Bettie tipped Van off, so he bought the necklace and hid it in a gift box. He fastens it on Mia and tells her to wear it when they are apart so she remembers she is his daughter.
- Near the end
In what book does a girl imagine lox and cream cheese on fry bread?
✓ Answer
Two Tribes by Emily Bowen Cohen
Mia tells Chloe that fry bread is like a big puffy pita and decides it would be perfect with lox and schmear. She calls it fusion food, which is her first real hint that her Jewish and Muscogee sides can blend instead of compete.
