BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSSpencer Sandoval is a senior at Armstrong Prep, an elite Los Angeles private school, and one of a handful of students on the school's Headmaster's List, an honor that all but guarantees admission to a top college. She wakes up in the hospital after a car crash that kills fifteen-year-old Chris Moore, with a broken collarbone, a scarred cheek, and almost no memory of what happened. Her ex-boyfriend Ethan Amoroso, who was driving, is arrested and charged, and Spencer's parents bring home a fox-red Labrador named Ripley, a service dog trained to help with the panic attacks and night terrors that follow the crash. Back at school, with Ethan's best friend Jackson Chen assigned to help her catch up on classwork, Spencer starts noticing details that don't add up, like a hoodie she remembers Ethan wearing that was actually still hanging in her own closet, and a fight with Ethan she can recall but no memory at all of getting into his car. Convinced the official story is missing something, she and Jackson start piecing together what actually happened that night, one video and one interview at a time, even as someone seems determined to make her stop asking questions.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Headmaster's List
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 The Headmaster's List. 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 friend draw a tentacled monster in purple Sharpie on an arm cast?
✓ Answer
The Headmaster's List by Melissa de la Cruz
Olivia Santos is a serious artist who usually works in charcoal, so she treats Spencer's cast like a canvas and covers it with an alien creature and tentacles curling around her wrist. It is her way of showing she cares, since she is terrible at saying feelings out loud.
- First half
In what book does a girl hauling trash catch a classmate trading something beside a dumpster?
✓ Answer
The Headmaster's List by Melissa de la Cruz
Spencer is taking out the garbage behind the ice cream kiosk when she spots Tabby Hill and a stranger in a hoodie swapping something near the community bathrooms. It is the first real hint that Tabby has a side business worth hiding.
- First half
In what book does a boy at a telescope guess aliens when the space station streaks past?
✓ Answer
The Headmaster's List by Melissa de la Cruz
Spencer sets up the telescope on her deck, blows out the candles, and counts down so Jackson can catch the International Space Station right on schedule. She wants to study astrophysics at Caltech, and this is the closest she comes to showing someone why.
- Second half
In what book do obsessive comments pile up under a boy's only photo from a profile named Dreamy Dayz?
✓ Answer
The Headmaster's List by Melissa de la Cruz
Spencer digs through Ethan's abandoned Instagram and finds messages from a girl he met at his behavioral camp, escalating from call me to open threats. It sends her down the path of wondering whether someone wanted to hurt Ethan on purpose.
- Second half
In what book does a detective get handed evidence wrapped in an unused dog poop bag?
✓ Answer
The Headmaster's List by Melissa de la Cruz
It was the only clean thing Spencer had on her, courtesy of Ripley. Detective Potentas is unimpressed and tells her the whole thing is garbage, which is the moment Spencer realizes the police will never take her seriously.
- Near the end
In what book do crash scene photos arrive in an envelope with a sticky note saying "Thank me later"?
✓ Answer
The Headmaster's List by Melissa de la Cruz
Peyton Salt delivers on her end of the interview bargain in an unmarked manila envelope. Spencer hoped the photos would unlock her missing memory, but instead she sees evidence of Chris in the wreck and gets violently sick.
