Monday, November 7, 2011

High School Battle Books

Battle of the Books 2012


Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys - In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother, and brother are pulled from their Lithuanian home by Soviet guards and sent to Siberia, where her father is sentenced to death in a prison camp while she fights for her life, vowing to honor her family and the thousands like hers by burying her story in a jar on Lithuanian soil. Based on the author's family, includes a historical note.




Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan - Told in the alternating voices of Dash and Lily, two sixteen-year-olds carry on a wintry scavenger hunt at Christmas-time in New York, neither knowing quite what--or who--they will find.





Fire by Kristin Cashore - In a kingdom called the Dells, Fire is the last human-shaped monster, with unimaginable beauty and the ability to control the minds of those around her, but even with these gifts she cannot escape the strife that overcomes her world.





Hold Still by Nina LeCour - As she reads the journal left by her best friend, who committed suicide, Caitlin struggles with powerful feelings of loss, sadness, and guilt, but friends and a first love help her to cope with her negative emotions.





The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness - Pursued by power-hungry Prentiss and mad minister Aaron, young Todd and Viola set out across New World searching for answers about his colony's true past and seeking a way to warn the ship bringing hopeful settlers from Old World.






The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri - A portrait of the immigrant experience follows the Ganguli family from their traditional life in India through their arrival in Massachusetts in the late 1960s and their difficult melding into an American way of life.




The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum - The untold story of how poison rocked Jazz Age New York City. A pair of forensic scientists began their trailblazing chemical detective work, fighting to end an era when untraceable poisons offered an easy path to the perfect crime.




Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan - When two teens, one gay and one straight, meet accidentally and discover that they share the same name, their lives become intertwined as one begins dating the other's best friend, who produces a play revealing his relationship with them both.



A Note to Parents and Team Managers

Choosing titles for B.O.B. can be a challenging task! The selected books for 2012 were chosen based on their student appeal, diverse subject matter and characters, representation of a wide variety of genres, and their literary merit. The books were each read, reviewed, and discussed by a team of school and public librarians. Should you have a concern about one of the titles, please feel free to contact Moon or Sewickley libraries.

Thank you,
Heather Panella, Moon Township Public Library
Kelly Rottmund, Sewickley Public Library


*Plot summaries are from the NoveList database.

No comments: