BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSIn May 1940, two sisters walk home from school in Amsterdam, arguing about whether to stop for ice cream. Margot is fourteen, careful, and always follows the rules. Anne is almost eleven, restless, and full of big dreams about someday seeing California. The next morning German bombs fall on the Netherlands, and within days the country surrenders. As new laws strip away one freedom after another, banning Jews from parks, shops, and eventually their own schools, Anne holds on to her love of books, her friendship with Hanneli, and the magpie in the trees outside her window that she is sure recognizes her. This is the story of an ordinary, funny, stubborn girl trying to hold on to her ordinary life while the world around her closes in.
Free Battle of the Books questions for When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank, Before the Diary
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 When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank, Before the Diary. 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 sprinkle salt into every corner of her bedroom for protection?
✓ Answer
When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank, Before the Diary by Alice Hoffman
After the bombing begins, Anne remembers her father saying that salt was once offered at the Temple in Jerusalem to heal and purify. Margot calls it nonsense, then wraps her arms around her sister anyway.
- First half
In what book does a girl shoo her favorite bird toward Spain or Morocco to keep it safe?
✓ Answer
When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank, Before the Diary by Alice Hoffman
Anne wants the magpie that follows her home from school to leave the city for somewhere the bombs cannot reach, even though magpies never migrate far. When the bird lifts off over the elm trees, both sisters applaud.
- First half
In what book does a girl on a stoop shout for a surrounded schoolboy to run?
✓ Answer
When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank, Before the Diary by Alice Hoffman
Anne watches from the steps as a group of Dutch children circle a small Jewish boy carrying a satchel of books and wearing a hat far too big for him. She does not know his name, but they understand each other, and this is the moment she decides that what they need is bravery rather than hope.
- Second half
In what book does a father cry while reading Dickens in a hotel garden?
✓ Answer
When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank, Before the Diary by Alice Hoffman
Otto takes Anne to the countryside for a few days to cheer her up, and he reads Great Expectations in a lawn chair beside her. Anne can tell it is not only the writing making him cry, and when she asks whether good always beats evil, he admits he is no longer sure.
- Second half
In what book does an ill grandmother say, "Life is for the living"?
✓ Answer
When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank, Before the Diary by Alice Hoffman
Oma sends Anne off to sleep over at Jacque's house even though she is very sick and Anne offers to stay. Anne later wonders whether her grandmother said it in order to spare her from being home that night.
- Near the end
In what book is a talkative student assigned an essay titled "An Incorrigible Chatterbox"?
✓ Answer
When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank, Before the Diary by Alice Hoffman
Anne's math teacher gives her three punishment essays for talking in class, and the third is called Quack, Quack, Quack, Said Mistress Chatterback. Anne writes that one as a funny poem with help from her friend Sanne, the teacher reads it aloud, and he stops being annoyed with her.
