BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSWillodeen is an eleven-year-old girl living in the village of Perchance, a place that depends on the annual migration of hummingbears for its survival. She is socially awkward, keeps mostly to herself, and has one fierce obsession: screechers, the smelly, ill-tempered, plum-furred creatures that everyone else in the village despises. For years she has been quietly counting and studying the screechers in the hills, watching their numbers fall from eighty-seven to almost none, and she is furious that no one else seems to care. When hunters kill the very last screecher she has been tracking, Willodeen ends up at a village council meeting where she blurts out her anger in front of the entire town, and on the walk home she meets a boy named Connor who makes strange nature sculptures he calls puzzlers. He gives her one, a screecher he crafted in a single night for her birthday, and the next morning when she goes back to retrieve it from the old carousel, the sculpture is gone and something entirely unexpected is sitting in its place.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Willodeen
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 Willodeen. 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 keep a tiny winged pet whose wings were too singed to fly?
✓ Answer
Willodeen by Katherine Applegate
Duuzuu the hummingbear survived the same fire as Willodeen but can no longer fly properly. Like her, he is solitary and forever changed by the fire, which is part of why the two are such close companions.
- First half
In what book does a girl compare nature to a sweater that unravels if you pull one string too hard?
✓ Answer
Willodeen by Katherine Applegate
Willodeen tells the council that nature is connected like knitting, and pulling one thread can unravel the whole thing. It is her plea not to wipe out the screechers before anyone understands their place in the world.
- First half
In what book does a girl leave her coat on a wooden unicorn and return to find a living animal?
✓ Answer
Willodeen by Katherine Applegate
Willodeen forgets her coat on the carousel's blue unicorn with Connor's sculpture in the pocket. When she comes back, the sculpture is gone and a real baby screecher sits there, unharmed and very much alive.
- Second half
In what book does a man call a note-taking girl "a scholar" while standing on a ridge above the village?
✓ Answer
Willodeen by Katherine Applegate
When Willodeen explains she takes notes on the woods and animals, Mr. Burke nods and calls her a scholar. He surprises her by saying the changing world will need scientists and people who see things in fresh ways.
- Second half
In what book does a girl spot three small winged animals nesting in glowing bubble nests in a hidden grove?
✓ Answer
Willodeen by Katherine Applegate
While Quinby digs for snails, Duuzuu's loud cooing draws Willodeen's eyes upward to three hummingbears in shimmering nests. It is the first real sign that the missing migrating animals might be returning.
- Near the end
In what book does an old woman rush outside at the first smell of smoke wearing only one shoe?
✓ Answer
Willodeen by Katherine Applegate
When Willodeen runs home during the fire, she finds Birdie has rushed out with just one shoe on. Mae and Birdie had bolted the moment they smelled smoke, terrified of losing the girl they love.
