Cover of I Must Betray You

I Must Betray You

by Ruta Sepetys

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Assigned across 1 curriculum list · 1 state

Grade placement varies by school — the median assigned book spans 4 grade levels (83% span three or more, across 13,258 source-cited assignments).

On reading-award lists:Mountain Laurel Book Award (Pennsylvania)

I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys is assigned in US schools at grades 9–12. It appears across 1 curriculum reference and 1 state, sourced from state DOE pages and AP/IB/Common Core syllabi. Every citation below links to the primary source.

This page shows where I Must Betray You is assigned in US schools — curricula, states, grades, and the primary-source citations behind each placement. Not a summary or study guide.

Grade range
Grades 9–12
Age range
Ages 14–17
Pages
337
Reading time
about 6h 10m (est.)
First published
2022
Genre
Realistic Fiction
ISBN-13
9781984836045

New to these terms? Reading levels by grade

More formats & details

Other formats on Amazon: Kindle · Audiobook

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About this book

#1 New York Times Bestseller and winner of the Carnegie Medal! A gut-wrenching, startling historical thriller about communist Romania and the citizen spy network that devastated a nation, from the #1 New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray. Romania, 1989. Communist regimes are crumbling across Europe. Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu dreams of becoming a writer, but Romanians aren’t free to dream; they are bound by rules and force.

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Why widely assigned

This Realistic Fiction title, typically at grades 9–12. Written in the 2020s; cited across 1 curriculum framework.

Where this book is assigned

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Common questions

What grade level is I Must Betray You?
I Must Betray You is most commonly assigned in US schools in grades 9–12. Specific grade placement varies by curriculum — AP Literature and IB English Literature typically use it in grades 11-12.
How long does it take to read I Must Betray You?
It takes about 6h 10m to read I Must Betray You (337 pages) at an average adult reading pace of about 250 words per minute — roughly 370 minutes. Faster or slower readers will vary; the estimate is a planning guide for assigning the book.
What curricula assign I Must Betray You?
I Must Betray You appears on reading lists for Mountain Laurel Book Award (Pennsylvania). Each assignment on this site links to its primary-source citation.
Is I Must Betray You banned in schools?
I Must Betray You does not appear in PEN America's Index of School Book Bans 2022-2024. No documented multi-district removals on record, but individual districts may challenge titles locally.

Why this book is on this list

How we classify

Each dimension below is sourced from a public reference. The full framework is documented on the classification standard page.

Lexile measure
Not classified — this book has no published Lexile measure.
Grade band
Grades 9–12 — drawn from state ELA frameworks and AP/IB syllabi citing this book.
Curriculum alignment
Cited in 1 curriculum on this site (see “Where assigned” above for primary-source links).
State-level evidence
Cited in 1 state ELA framework or DOE list (see citations above).
Removal / banning records
No tracked removal or challenge records in cited sources.
Seasonal / contextual tags
Tagged for: book-club.

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