BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSCristian Florescu is a seventeen-year-old in Bucharest, Romania, in October 1989, scraping by under the suffocating rule of Nicolae Ceausescu's communist regime. He lives with his family in a cramped cement apartment block, stands in ration lines before school, and keeps a secret notebook full of the questions and observations he can never say aloud. When a Securitate secret police agent confronts him at school over a U.S. dollar that appeared in his stamp album, Cristian's carefully hidden inner life suddenly has very real consequences. The agent offers him a choice that isn't really a choice: inform on an American diplomat's family, or watch his sick grandfather suffer without medicine. Desperate to protect the people he loves, Cristian agrees and is assigned the code name OSCAR. But as he tries to outmaneuver the agent, pursue a romance with the girl next door, and smuggle a cry for help to the outside world, the walls close in from every direction.
Free Battle of the Books questions for I Must Betray You
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 Must Betray You. 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 is a sick grandfather's medicine offered as payment for spying on an American family?
✓ Answer
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
The agent dangles medicine for Bunu, who has leukemia, to pressure Cristian into reporting on the Van Dorns. Using a dying loved one as a bargaining chip is exactly how the regime trapped people into informing.
- First half
In what book does a boy discover a photo album showing his dictator posing with Mickey Mouse?
✓ Answer
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
In the library album, Cristian finds photos of Ceausescu at Disneyland with Mickey Mouse and meeting world leaders. He realizes the dictator had fooled not just America but everyone, while keeping his own people caged.
- First half
In what book does a girl leave a boy a note saying "You are a liar. You are an informer"?
✓ Answer
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
Liliana sends Cristian a crushing note after the Securitate questions her father, accusing him of reporting on her family. He is devastated because, though he is an informer, he never said a word about her.
- Second half
In what book does a boy wrap a forbidden notebook like a gift using pages from a teen almanac?
✓ Answer
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
To leave his dangerous notebook on the diplomat's desk without suspicion, Cristian wraps it in pages from Cutezatorii, the Romanian teen almanac whose title means Brave Ones. He ties it with ribbon so in mid December it will look like a holiday present. This is from I Must Betray You.
- Second half
In what book does a boy follow his sister and discover her hiding inside a parked black Dacia?
✓ Answer
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
Cristian trails Cici toward her supposed textile factory and instead spots her yellow scarf behind the window of a black Dacia with the agent. Pressing his face to the glass, he sees Paddle Hands's huge hands on her lap. This is from I Must Betray You.
- Near the end
In what book does a nervous young soldier ask protesters for a cigarette because he smokes when scared?
✓ Answer
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
As the protesters beg a young soldier to lower his weapon, he asks for a cigarette and admits he smokes when nervous. He quietly tells them to leave, a hint that ordinary soldiers did not want to fire on their own people. This is from I Must Betray You.
