How to be an Effective Reader
What is the genre of I Must Betray You?
Historical Fiction
Where does Cristian sleep?
In a closet on a bed of rags.
"Liliana leaned in to whisper. 'She's replacing the swear words. Can you hear it? She's using "Get lost" for all the swears.'...Liliana was right. The woman dubbing the English into Romanian was replacing the swear words" (44).
ANNOTATION: Was this woman forced to censor the swearing, or was swearing considered especially taboo in Romania? Also, might she be censoring anything else?
Annotation: QUESTIONING
Cristian is spying on the son of an American diplomat with the last name Van Dorn. What is the son's first name?
Dan
How do Cristian and his family get food? What do they have to do?
Wait in long, long lines.
In which country does I Must Betray You take place?
Romania
What does Cici do for work? [She has TWO jobs.]
She works at a textile factory and as a seamstress.
"[Cici] raised a hand to stop me. She grabbed her pillow from the sofa and put it over the telephone. She then placed a book on top of the pillow" (35).
Annotation: Hopper in Stranger Things took apart his mobile home in search of a listening device, and he eventually found one in a lamp. Apparently "bugs" are easily hidden in items with wires!
Annotation: RELATING
The writer is relating, or connecting, Cici's actions from I Must Betray You to actions of a character from the Netflix TV show, Stranger Things.
What is the name of Cristian's best friend?
Luca
What material are the apartment buildings made out of?
Cement
1989
What special treat does Liliana share with Cristian that she had been saving since Christmas?
A can of Coca Cola.
"I recognized her voice without looking -- the woman with the drooping face. Unlike the other Reporters who wore stiff lines of age and exhaustion, this woman wasn't old. Her baby had been born prematurely and died in a hospital incubator when Ceausescu turned off the electricity one night. Within a matter of days, her young features drooped twenty years" (33).
Annotation: The change in the woman's face is a result of her despair.
Annotation: INFERENCE
What does Cristian call his grandfather?
Bunu
What is Cristian's code name as an informer?
OSCAR
What is Nicolae Ceausescu's wife's name?
Elena
How many channels are on the Romanian television in I Must Betray You?
One.
"After seeing Dan's notebook, that's when I decided to start a notebook of my own" (48).
Annotation: Someone will discover Dan's notebook and he will be in great danger.
Annotation: PREDICTION
What does Cristian call the Agent who he reports to as an informer?
Agent Paddle Hands
Instead of using money, Cristian and his family use a Western brand of cigarettes, as currency. What is this brand called?
Kents
What is unique about how the chapters are numbered in I Must Betray You?
Underneath the Arabic numbers, they are written in the Romanian language
Buna and Cristian create a fictional character in order to tell jokes about the communist regime. What is the name of this character?
Bula (29).
At the bottom of chapter 12, the writer jotted down the following annotation: Liliana and Cristian attend a forbidden video night hosted by Starfish where they watch Die Hard. Cristian is mesmorized by how much free will characters in the film have.
Annotation: SUMMARY
Cici calls her little brother "Pui" as a nickname. What does this name mean?
Little Chick
Cristian thought that Romania's fields were overflowing with bountiful crops. Instead, he found a "scrawny field" with almost nothing to harvest. The State television showed misleading visuals of fields that were NOT in Romania. What is this government tactic called?
Propaganda: information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.