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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSTwelve year old Will Samuels lives with his father, mother, and grandfather on a rented patch of Texas cotton land, sharecropping fields that never quite belong to them. His father, George, is a quiet, far-thinking man who spends hours staring at the horizon, and Will can never tell what he is thinking. Everything changes when George rushes home with a flyer announcing the Oklahoma Land Rush of April 1889, a chance to claim one hundred and sixty acres of free land for anyone who can reach it first. George decides that he and Will, not Will's mother, will make the four hundred mile trip together, and the two of them set out with their gray mule, Belle, leaving Ma and Grandpa behind. Along the way they meet a mysterious Black stranger named Caesar, a former Union soldier with a horse called Midnight and a past that seems to be chasing him, and for the first time Will starts to understand who his father really is and what freedom has cost him.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Will's Race for Home
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 Will's Race for Home. 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 boy read aloud a flyer promising open land on April 22, 1889?
✓ Answer
Will's Race for Home by Jewell Parker Rhodes
George bursts into the cabin waving a yellowed handbill, and since he cannot read, Anna insists that Will read it out loud. The announcement of the Oklahoma land rush changes everything for the Samuels family.
- First half
In what book does a man sketch an eight-hundred-mile shoreline in the dirt with squiggly waves?
✓ Answer
Will's Race for Home by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Caesar has never seen the ocean either, but he dreams out loud about California, redwoods, bighorn sheep, and water that changes color. He puts off that dream to help the Samuels family reach the land rush instead.
- First half
In what book does a hungry limping stranger snap to attention and answer, "Yes, Sergeant"?
✓ Answer
Will's Race for Home by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Milt Perkins is dozing on a stool outside an apothecary when Caesar whistles him over and asks if he is honest. The salute tells Will that Caesar was an officer, something the boy never guessed.
- Second half
In what book does a rifle jut from behind a sign on a saloon roof?
✓ Answer
Will's Race for Home by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Will spots two hidden rifles, one on the saloon roof and one at the corner of an alley. The duel Caesar expected is really an ambush, and Will screams a warning just in time for Caesar to crouch and draw.
- Second half
In what book does a boy dive underwater to slide a plank beneath a mule's hooves?
✓ Answer
Will's Race for Home by Jewell Parker Rhodes
George chops the bottom board out of the family's cedar chest and throws it across the water. Will dives twice into the muddy river, digging sand away from Belle's hooves so she has something firm to push off.
- Near the end
In what book does a dozing rider drop the reins and his horse simply halts?
✓ Answer
Will's Race for Home by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Midnight knows Will is not a horseman and stops the instant the reins go slack. Will slips off shaking, offers the horse water from a bowl, and climbs back up wide awake.
