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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSTwelve-year-old Erik Carlson has just passed his hunter safety course and can hardly wait to go bird hunting with his best friend Patrick. Then his parents deliver some upsetting news. Both of Erik's parents are Army Reserve staff sergeants, and they are being deployed to Iraq together on very short notice. That means Erik has to spend the next six months with grandparents he barely remembers, on a farm near the tiny town of Fortuna, North Dakota. His grandmother, Oma, is warm but nervous, while his grandfather, a silent and unsmiling man everyone calls Big Darrell, seems to resent having him around. On his second day at the farm, Erik finds a hungry, injured dog hiding in the barn, her face full of porcupine quills. Helping her through the ordeal changes how Erik feels about being stuck in North Dakota, but the dog has an owner somewhere out there, and Big Darrell has a strict rule against keeping dogs. What happens next pulls Erik into an adventure on the open prairie, and into a part of his family's past he never expected to uncover.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Wild Life
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 Wild Life. 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 are a boy's mother and father both deployed to Iraq as Army reservists?
✓ Answer
Wild Life by Cynthia DeFelice
Erik's parents have been staff sergeants in the Army Reserves his whole time on earth without ever being called up, so the order stuns everyone. Because both of them go, Erik has to be shipped off to grandparents he has not seen since he was three.
- First half
In what book does an out house sign read, "The job ain't finished 'til the paperwork is done"?
✓ Answer
Wild Life by Cynthia DeFelice
The sign hangs on the wall above some stacked rolls of toilet paper, and Erik cracks up when he reads it. He notes that it is his very first laugh since arriving in North Dakota, and it feels good.
- First half
In what book does a vet pull quills out of a dog's face one by one with forceps?
✓ Answer
Wild Life by Cynthia DeFelice
Dr. Bob asks Erik to hold her still and keep talking to her while he grips the base of each quill and pulls hard and fast. Erik never once fears she will bite him, and the bond between the boy and the dog is forged right there in the barn.
- Second half
In what book does a boy buckle a long dead Labrador's collar onto a lost pointer?
✓ Answer
Wild Life by Cynthia DeFelice
The collar and leash belonged to Elvis, Uncle Dan's yellow Lab, and they sit in an old shoebox in Dan's room with the shotgun and camping gear. Erik helps himself to all of it, using the leash to lash a sleeping bag to his pack before slipping out of the house.
- Second half
In what book does a pointer gently drop a boy's first rooster pheasant into his hand?
✓ Answer
Wild Life by Cynthia DeFelice
After a full day of misses Erik finally connects, and Quill sits in front of him holding the bird until he puts out his arm. His whooping celebration turns quiet when the bird's head flops heavily to the side in his hand, and he whispers a thank you to the bird before packing it away.
- Near the end
In what book does a man with a flashlight tell a runaway, "I know who you are"?
✓ Answer
Wild Life by Cynthia DeFelice
A stranger out checking on some horses sees smoke coming from the abandoned barn and walks in on Erik and Quill by the fire. He recognizes them both from the news and cheerfully announces that he is collecting the reward.
