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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSUnder the Same Stars follows three sets of characters living decades apart, all connected by a real German landmark called the Bridegroom's Oak, a tree where lonely hearts leave letters hoping for a match. In 1939 Kleinwald, best friends Sophie Muller and Hanna Schmidt write playful letters to the tree just as Hitler's Germany closes in around their small town. In 1980 West Berlin, sixteen-year-old Jenny Campbell escapes her strict, image-conscious parents by joining a punk band and falling for a fierce girl named Lena, who has secrets of her own from the other side of the Berlin Wall. In 2020 Brooklyn, locked down by the pandemic, Miles and his best friend Chloe dig through a box of old cassette tapes and a crumbling scrapbook that Chloe's grandmother has mysteriously mailed her, hoping to solve a decades-old disappearance that somehow links all three of their worlds. As letters pass between the branches of an old oak and secrets pass down through generations, each of these characters has to decide what they are willing to risk to stay true to themselves.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Under the Same Stars
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 Under the Same Stars. 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 do passengers ride slowly through a bricked-over ghost station guarded by soldiers?
✓ Answer
Under the Same Stars by Libba Bray
Lena refuses to explain what a ghost station is until the train doors close and Jenny realizes they are rolling through East Berlin. The stops were sealed off so no one could board and escape, and armed guards watch the passing windows, which terrifies Jenny and leaves Lena, unusually quiet, glaring out the window.
- First half
In what book does a friend's letter from Texas begin "Dear Pippi Longstocking"?
✓ Answer
Under the Same Stars by Libba Bray
Heather's chatty airmail letter is written in purple ink with flowers dotting the i's, and the greeting proves she does not know the difference between Sweden and Germany. Buried in all the gossip is the news about Richard that makes Jenny sick with guilt about how she treated him.
- First half
In what book does a girl claim a flag is too dirty to fly?
✓ Answer
Under the Same Stars by Libba Bray
When a neighbor demands to know why the Mullers are not flying the Reich flag for Hitler's birthday, Sophie invents a story about being down to a sliver of soap. She notes afterward that she has become very good at lying, and wonders whether that is the same thing as acting.
- Second half
In what book does a girl attend a party dressed as a Twister game with a cardboard spinner?
✓ Answer
Under the Same Stars by Libba Bray
Chloe turns up late to the Halloween party in Brooklyn Heights in a homemade costume with a spinner handbag. Miles is in clown makeup nobody understands, and the night leads to the fight that separates them for months.
- Second half
In what book does a girl run a sewing machine over paper to punch a passport's perforations?
✓ Answer
Under the Same Stars by Libba Bray
Hanna's dull Wednesday night sewing lessons turn out to be exactly the skill the forgers need. She jokes about it with Sophie on the walk home, arm in arm, past shop windows hung with red and black flags.
- Near the end
In what book does a boy make a corsage from Christmas ribbon with an acorn glued in the middle?
✓ Answer
Under the Same Stars by Libba Bray
Miles holds his homemade corsage up to the webcam at their lockdown prom, using the old acorn Frau Hermann once left for his mother. Chloe takes a big showy sniff through the screen and says it smells amazing.
