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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSSeventeen-year-old Mina Mansour used to be one of the most popular seniors in Ward, a small, stormy California town. Now she eats lunch alone, shares her lunch with the ants, and tallies the days since someone last tried to kill her. Her mother died when Mina was nine, supposedly in a car accident during her first trip back to Egypt, a story Mina doesn't believe. So when a woman claiming to be her mother's younger sister called last November, Mina told her father she was going camping over spring break and flew to Egypt instead, to meet Khalto Safa and see her mother's childhood home, a grand, decaying family villa near Alexandria. "When I came back from that house, something came back with me," Mina explains. Anyone left alone with her now turns on her with cold orange eyes and a stench of rot, then forgets it, so she has ended things with her boyfriend by text and shut out her best friends to keep them safe. When her favorite English teacher attacks her, help comes from Jesse Talbot, the prickly loner next door whose father runs Ward's mortuary in their basement. Jesse seems to be immune to the thing, and together they start digging into her mother's family, while chapters set in the past slowly reveal the dark history of the Haikals and their villa.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Where No Shadow Stays
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 Where No Shadow Stays. 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 forbid herself from sighing more than four times a day?
✓ Answer
Where No Shadow Stays by Sara Hashem
To keep from drowning in self-pity, Mina has set herself a few non-negotiable rules, and one caps her sighs at four a day. By lunchtime she has already used three, so she saves the last one for a truly special occasion.
- First half
In what book does a girl's aunt take her to Samira's Styles to fix her split ends?
✓ Answer
Where No Shadow Stays by Sara Hashem
Khalto Safa complains about Mina's split ends every day and finally has the cab drop them at the salon. Mina walks out with healthy curls, a list of products to stop using, and gossip about Samira's sister's second divorce.
- First half
In what book is a woman struck by lightning twice right after accepting a bargain in the desert?
✓ Answer
Where No Shadow Stays by Sara Hashem
After Bamba agrees to the bargain, one bolt of lightning and then another burn through her. She feels it expelling her human weaknesses as her blood becomes tainted for every generation of Haikals to come.
- Second half
In what book does a football coach with orange eyes taunt a girl about breaking rules like her mother?
✓ Answer
Where No Shadow Stays by Sara Hashem
Even with Jesse standing right beside her, the rot smell arrives and Mr. Hale's voice turns hollow and deep as he attacks Mina. Because the thing struck while Jesse was there, Mina decides Jesse was telling the truth about his soul.
- Second half
In what book does a boy answer a girl's clumsy kiss attempt on a haunted train with "Do it again"?
✓ Answer
Where No Shadow Stays by Sara Hashem
Warming up inside Jesse's leather jacket after he finds her on the abandoned train, Mina impulsively tries to kiss him and nearly smacks into his face. Jesse teases her at first, then asks her to do it again, and their first real kiss follows.
- Near the end
In what book does a friend text "YOU GOT IT YOU GOT IT YOU GOT IT" about a graduation speech?
✓ Answer
Where No Shadow Stays by Sara Hashem
After a long day, Mina charges her dead phone and learns from Lucia's and Rainie's messages, then an email from the principal, that she will speak at graduation. She grabs a pad of blue sticky notes to leave the good news for her father on the fridge.
