BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSEli Frieden has grown up in Serenity, New Mexico, a tiny, perfect town where crime is nonexistent, everyone is honest, and life seems almost too good to be true. When Eli and his best friend Randy sneak out of town on their bikes, Eli collapses from a sudden, devastating illness and is airlifted back by the town's security force, the Surety, a.k.a. the Purple People Eaters. Randy is soon shipped away to live with his grandparents, but before he leaves, he hides a note for Eli that hints at a disturbing secret: some of the kids in Serenity are "special," Eli's illness is connected to that specialness, and there is something very screwy going on in their perfect little town.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Masterminds
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 Masterminds. 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 ask tree trimmers, "What's murder?"
✓ Answer
Masterminds by Gordon Korman
Amber sees a headline about a murder in the USA Today and has never encountered the word before. The tree trimmers stare at her in disbelief when she asks what it means. This moment shows how sheltered the kids of Serenity really are.
- First half
In what book does a boy upload webcam photos to a fake website called the Ohio Lollipop Festival?
✓ Answer
Masterminds by Gordon Korman
Eli uploads aerial photos from a kite-mounted webcam to a website he names the Ohio Lollipop Festival. He figures that even if adults are monitoring the internet, no one would search for a lollipop festival. The photos reveal the factory roof and a possible way inside.
- First half
In what book do kids find a circular conference room where eleven children's entire lives are documented on whiteboards?
✓ Answer
Masterminds by Gordon Korman
In the lowest level of the factory, the kids discover a circular conference room with whiteboards covering the walls. Each board is devoted to one of eleven kids, with photos from birth to the present, medical tests, brain scans, and detailed behavior reports. Every child is labeled with the word Osiris and a number.
- Second half
In what book does a boy say, "We don't have parents. We have zookeepers"?
✓ Answer
Masterminds by Gordon Korman
Malik says this when Tori hesitates about leaving because she can't abandon her parents. It's a harsh but honest way of expressing what the kids have learned. Their parents are really scientists studying them, not biological family. Despite the bluntness, Malik himself is shaken by the idea of leaving.
- Second half
In what book does a girl climb her house wall to tend roses and overhear a secret conversation?
✓ Answer
Masterminds by Gordon Korman
Tori scales the trellis on her house to train her climbing wild roses, which her father said could never grow in the desert. She realizes she's a natural climber and works her way up to her parents' bedroom window, where she overhears them discussing plans to remove Malik from the group after Serenity Day.
- Near the end
In what book do two boys smash a satellite dish with garden tools during a fireworks show?
✓ Answer
Masterminds by Gordon Korman
Eli and Malik climb onto the cone truck inside the factory compound and attack the satellite dish with garden tools, trying to time their blows with the fireworks explosions to mask the noise. They dent and twist the dish but can't get to its internal wiring, and they're interrupted when guards catch them.
