BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSSixteen-year-old Brent Bishop is the new kid at a Chicago private school, desperate to fit in and impress the right people. After a humiliating night at a party, he gets behind the wheel drunk and tries to end his life on the expressway. He crashes instead and kills an eighteen-year-old girl named Lea Zamora. When he meets Lea's mother to discuss restitution, she makes an unusual request: travel to the four corners of the United States by Greyhound bus and build a whirligig bearing Lea's likeness in each one, so that her joy can reach people all over the country who never knew her.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Whirligig
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 Whirligig. 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 partygoers arrive to find a tennis court chalked into a chessboard?
✓ Answer
Whirligig by Paul Fleischman
Chaz, who is in Drama Club, throws a themed human chess party at his stone house in Wilmette. Brent shows up in a red Bulls T-shirt because Jonathan forgot to tell him about the dress code, leaving him conspicuously out of place from the moment he arrives.
- First half
In what book does a boy mail an apology letter and get it back stabbed and burned with cigarettes?
✓ Answer
Whirligig by Paul Fleischman
Brent spends an entire day composing his four sentence apology to Cesar Zamora, the father of the girl he killed. The mutilated reply triggers nightmares of Mr. Zamora stalking him through the Philippine jungle.
- First half
In what book does a Puerto Rican street sweeper dream of being a shearwater bird over the ocean?
✓ Answer
Whirligig by Paul Fleischman
The Miami sweeper longs for peace from his crowded household full of crying babies, grandparents arguing in Spanish, and loud TV. He sees the shearwater on a nature program and imagines being a solitary bird living far from land, only to be disappointed when he finally sees them.
- Second half
In what book does a boy fall apart during the Bach Gavotte in D Major at a recital?
✓ Answer
Whirligig by Paul Fleischman
Tony forgets the grace notes, messes up the trill, and forgets the bowing during his Bach piece. The recital collapses without ever reaching the second section, and his mother just looks down at the floor.
- Second half
In what book does a substitute maid leave a guest the note, "No one's alone with Jesus"?
✓ Answer
Whirligig by Paul Fleischman
Brent expects another friendly message but receives a religious one from a substitute maid. The line about Jesus stings instead of comforts him and reminds him of the hollow Methodism of his upbringing.
- Near the end
In what book does a grandmother halt her granddaughter's car to stare at a white-barked birch in Old Town?
✓ Answer
Whirligig by Paul Fleischman
The grandmother's sudden command sends Jenny braking in the middle of traffic in Old Town. Only later does Jenny learn that the tree reminded her grandmother of the many birches in the Poland of her childhood.
