BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSCharlie Reese is used to a broken family: her dad Scrappy fights so much he's in jail, and her mom won't get out of bed. When she's sent to live with her aunt Bertha and uncle Gus in the small mountain town of Colby, North Carolina, she's furious, certain she doesn't belong there, and sure she'll be heading home the minute her mom "gets her feet on the ground." She has one thing that's hers alone: every day since the end of fourth grade, she's made the exact same secret wish, using every method she knows, from spotting a white horse to blowing on an eyelash. Then a skinny stray dog starts showing up at the edge of Gus and Bertha's yard, and with help from her patient, endlessly upbeat Backpack Buddy, Howard Odom, Charlie sets out to catch him and make him hers. Will Colby ever start to feel like home, and will her wish ever come true?
Free Battle of the Books questions for Wish
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 Wish. 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 man point out the constellation Pegasus above the mountains?
✓ Answer
Wish by Barbara O'Connor
Gus is quiet and easygoing and knows all about stars and plants and weather. Showing Charlie Pegasus from the back porch is his gentle way of letting her into his world.
- First half
In what book do Sunday school kids write their blessings on construction paper flowers?
✓ Answer
Wish by Barbara O'Connor
Mrs. Mackey calls the bulletin board Our Garden of Blessings, and Audrey writes My family on a big yellow daisy. Charlie's hands start shaking under the table because she cannot think of a single blessing of her own.
- First half
In what book does a girl slam a trap door on a stray gobbling meat loaf and french fries?
✓ Answer
Wish by Barbara O'Connor
Charlie comes racing home furious at Howard and finds the dog she has chased for weeks eating right there in the crate. Bertha is convinced it was her meat loaf that finally did the trick.
- Second half
In what book does a girl sniff an envelope hoping to smell her father's aftershave?
✓ Answer
Wish by Barbara O'Connor
The letter comes from the Wake County Correctional Center, and Charlie studies every inch of the envelope before she opens it. Smelling it is her way of getting close to Scrappy while he is locked up.
- Second half
In what book do two sisters joke that a cow eating your grass is a lawn moo-er?
✓ Answer
Wish by Barbara O'Connor
Charlie and Jackie paint their fingernails and tell the same worn-out jokes they have told about a million times before. For a little while Jackie seems like her old self, and Charlie realizes how badly she has missed her.
- Near the end
In what book do two kids eat orange Jell-O out of coffee mugs while playing Monopoly?
✓ Answer
Wish by Barbara O'Connor
Charlie walks down to the Odoms' with her stomach in knots, and Mrs. Odom doesn't even care when Wishbone gets mud on the floor. Charlie says you can be with Howard and talk or be with him and not talk, and he likes you either way.
