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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSSkye Shin is sixteen, Korean American, and has heard her mother say some version of "fat girls can't dance" for as long as she can remember. So when auditions open for You're My Shining Star, the first K-pop competition show to be held entirely in America, Skye skips school without telling her mother and tries out for both the vocal and dance categories, landing a spot in both even after one of the judges tells her outright that there is no room in the industry for someone her size. Furious and determined to prove her mother wrong, Skye throws herself into brutal weekly rehearsals in LA, builds an unexpected support system among her fellow contestants, and keeps running into Henry Cho, a famous, ridiculously good-looking model who also auditioned and who keeps showing up right when she needs him most. As the competition grows more cutthroat and the cameras start following her every move, Skye has to figure out how much of herself she is willing to change, and how much she is willing to fight for, to make it all the way to the end.
Free Battle of the Books questions for I'll Be the One
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 I'll Be the One. 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 contestant say, "That girl failed me, so I want to be my own hero"?
✓ Answer
I'll Be the One by Lyla Lee
Skye is telling the judges about a plus-size girl who won a Korean talent show, then got thinner and thinner until she was hospitalized for malnutrition. Watching that happen in seventh grade is exactly why Skye auditioned, and Gary Kim votes her through the moment she finishes.
- First half
In what book does a dance teacher ask a quitting student to say hi to a boy band?
✓ Answer
I'll Be the One by Lyla Lee
Skye has to drop both the dance team and choir for the semester to keep up with the competition, but her teachers still let her use the school studio and practice rooms whenever they are empty. The parting joke is that she should not forget them once she is famous, and Skye is too amused to explain that meeting that group is not exactly on her schedule.
- First half
In what book does a famous model volunteer as a partner for the girl nobody wanted?
✓ Answer
I'll Be the One by Lyla Lee
Skye is about to walk out of the studio for good when Henry speaks up from the back of the room and says he would kill to be her partner. He tells Bobby to leave if he is that insecure, and then asks Skye whether she wants him.
- Second half
In what book does a mother watch her daughter's television debut alone in an upstairs bedroom?
✓ Answer
I'll Be the One by Lyla Lee
Skye's mom knows the premiere is airing but refuses to come downstairs, so Skye's dad goes up to try to bring her down and comes back alone. He tells Skye that at least her mother is watching, which is the smallest possible comfort.
- Second half
In what book does a girl bow to two judges onstage and deliberately skip the third?
✓ Answer
I'll Be the One by Lyla Lee
After being cut from the dance half, Skye clenches her fists, bows to Park Tae-Suk and then to Gary Kim, and pointedly leaves Bora out. She tells them she will see them at the next practice, because she still has the singing half to win.
- Near the end
In what book do two teenagers decide that together they are "bi squared"?
✓ Answer
I'll Be the One by Lyla Lee
Henry comes out to Skye during the drive home from the spa, and she tells him she is bisexual too. Neither of them hesitates for a second, and the nickname they land on turns a heavy conversation into something warm and funny.
