BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSAnnabelle McBride is eleven, soon to turn twelve, living on her family's Pennsylvania farm in the fall of 1943 while the war rages overseas. Her steady life gets upended when Betty Glengarry, a tough new girl sent from the city to live with her grandparents, starts trailing Annabelle and her two younger brothers on their walk to school through the woods called Wolf Hollow, demanding they hand over their belongings and threatening worse if they refuse. Annabelle has one ally most of the town keeps its distance from: Toby, a silent World War I veteran who lives alone in an old smokehouse, carries three guns everywhere he goes, and has quietly looked out for her family for years. As Betty's cruelty grows and eventually turns toward Toby himself, Annabelle has to decide how far she will go to protect the people she cares about, and what it costs her to keep their secrets. "The year I turned twelve, I learned how to lie," she says early on, and the story that follows shows exactly what she means.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Wolf Hollow
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 Wolf Hollow. 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 bully decide a family is rich because their house has "a purple window"?
✓ Answer
Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk
Betty blocks Annabelle on the path and calls her a rich girl, pointing to the lilac glass in the farmhouse front hall. Annabelle loves that window, but her family works a farm and does not think of itself as wealthy.
- First half
In what book has a German farmer had his windows broken and dead rats put in his mailbox?
✓ Answer
Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk
Annabelle's mother explains that neighbors have taken out their war grief on Mr. Ansel for years. She believes the rock that cost Ruth her eye was really meant for him, or his grays, or his apples.
- First half
In what book does a girl hide a hunted man in her family's hayloft?
✓ Answer
Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk
Annabelle decides Toby is safer where she can watch over him than out in the woods with searchers and state police coming. Hiding him is the biggest choice she has ever made, and it pulls her deeper into lying.
- Second half
In what book is a coil of sharp wire found hidden under a man's bedding, with blood on it?
✓ Answer
Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk
The trooper reports finding the bloody taut-wire in Toby's smokehouse, which makes him look guilty of hurting James. Annabelle is certain Betty planted it there, but she keeps quiet because she needs time to listen to a whisper in the back of her mind.
- Second half
In what book does a supper guest keep one glove on and cut his meat one-handed?
✓ Answer
Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk
Toby is eating at the McBride table as a stranger called Jordan, and the glove hides the scars that would identify him. Annabelle holds her breath as he starts to eat, hoping nobody notices.
- Near the end
In what book does an aunt telephone the state police herself and tell them to bring the hounds?
✓ Answer
Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk
Aunt Lily hears that the boys found a hat in the loft and refuses to let it go. Her call brings Officer Coleman back to search the barn, and Annabelle realizes that hounds could follow Toby's fresh trail straight into the McBride kitchen.
