There are 25 books that students can read. They will then compete in teams - 5 per class - to answer questions about the books.
Round 1 - which book?
Round 2 - in this book...
Round 3 - in this book
mystery object
relate the book to the quote
Round 4 - winning teams from each class
compete
mix of question types
mystery object
quote

Divide up the books, so that one or two students are reading each book.

Every student must read at least 3 books and take a test or write a review on the books to participate in the final battle.

Look at the Lexile and Reading Levels to help you choose books that are appropriate.
Also, read reviews or descriptions to find books you will like.

Stormbreaker - book 1 of Alex Rider series
Alex Rider thinks he is a normal school boy, until his uncle is killed and Alex discovers that his uncle was actually spy on a mission, when he was killed. Alex is recruited by Alan Blunt to continue the mission. He is sent to Cornwall to investigate a new computer system, which Darrius Sayle has created. He plans to give the new computer systems to every school in the country, but Mr. Blunt has other ideas and Alex must find out what it is.

The City of Ember
Lights shine in the city of Ember—but at the city limits the light ends, and darkness takes over. Out there in the Unknown Regions, the darkness goes on forever in all directions. Ember—so its people believe—is the only light in the dark world.

And now the lights are going out.
Is there a way to save the people of Ember? No one knows. But Lina Mayfleet has found a puzzling document, and Doon Harrow has made discoveries down in the Pipeworks. With these clues, they start their search.


Running Out of Time - 13 year old Jessie lives in an 1840s type village of Clifton, Indiana. There's a deadly disease going around the village and Jessie is sent by her mother to leave the village to try and find a cure. Leaving the village is a big shock for her. It's a great adventure/mystery book with a big twist that makes you want to learn more, and wonder what it would really be like if you were in that situation.

The Thief Lord - similar to Oliver
This tale follows six-year-old Bo and fifteen-year-old Prosper, two recently orphaned brothers who escape to Venice so they won't be separated. There they have fantastical adventures with the mysterious masked figure known as the Thief Lord and his band of child followers, who show the boys all the magic the city has to offer.

Cages - Kit never means to steal the bracelet; it is just a dumb mistake. But when she is caught Kit is sentenced to twenty hours of volunteer work at the humane society. Kit knows how it feels to be stuck in a cage like those animals and soon she begins to learn that the key to her own cage is right in front of her.

The Capture -The Capture is the first book in the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. It is the story of Soren, a Barn Owl, who is kidnapped and taken to St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls, where he meets his friend Gylfie, a tiny Elf Owl, with whom he makes a plan to escape.

Rascal
This is autobiographical of Sterling North's life growing up in the early 1900s in the back woods. The main character finds a raccoon and the two become inseparable. They go on many adventures together but the townspeople are afraid the raccoon will become dangerous as it gets older. What should he do?

Jackie and Me - Joe Stoshack has to write a report on an African American who's made an important contribution to society. Unlike every other kid in his class, Joe has a special talent: with the help of old baseball cards, he can travel through time. So for his report, Joe decides to go back to meet one of the greatest baseball players ever, Jackie Robinson, to find out what it was like to be the man who broke baseball's color barrier.

Mr. Strike Out
David Gray is notorious in his baseball league, notorious for strike outs, both as a pitcher and a batter. After learning about the great Babe Ruth, David becomes determined to become a good all-around player, which means he'll have to learn how to bat.

My Life As a Fifth Grade Comedian-
Bobby is the class clown. His friends and even sometimes his teachers think he is funny. But sometimes his jokes go too far and he gets into trouble.Bobby's got one last chance to prove to his teachers, his principal, and his parents'especially that he can be taken seriously and doesn't need to go to a special school for kids with behavior problems. His assignment: to put on a school-wide laugh-off. It's teachers vs. students-who do you think the best comedian will be?

The Landry News - Cara Landry is the new kid at Denton Elementary School, and all her teacher,Mr. Larson, would rather do is read the paper and drink coffee than teach his students anything. So Cara decides to give Mr. Larson something else to read -- her own newspaper, The Landry News. Before she knows it, the whole fifth-grade class is in on the project. But then the principal finds a copy of The Landry News, with unexpected results. Tomorrow's headline: Will Cara's newspaper cost Mr. Larson his job?

Out of My Mind
"By the time I was two, all my memories had words and all my words had meanings.
But only in my head.
I have not spoken one single word. I am almost eleven years old..."
Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there's no delete button. She's the smartest kid in her whole school but no one knows it. Most people her teachers and doctors included don't think she's capable of learning, and up until recently her school days consisted of listening to the same preschool-level alphabet lessons again and again and again. If only she could speak up, if only she could tell people what she thinks and knows . . . but she can't, because Melody can't talk. She can't walk. She can't write.

Being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind that is, until she discovers something that will allow her to speak for the first time ever. At last Melody has a voice . . . but not everyone around her is ready to hear it.

Island of the Aunts - A very funny and creative story about three kindly old aunts who decide that they need help caring for creatures who live on their hidden island. They know that adults can't be trusted, so they decide to kidnap a few special children who can keep a secret-a secret as big as a magical island. (After all, some children just plain need to be kidnapped.)

MyDog My Hero
My Hero' to Be Chosen: Eight finalists will compete tonight for the title My Hero. The winner will wear the coveted gold Hero medal. These brave and courageous dogs will each appear with their nominator who will tell their story.

There's Smiley, who fought a giant bull. Bear used his giant paws to save the life of another dog. Munchkin warned a gardener of a poisonous snake about to strike. Old Dog helped find people buried under rubble after a tornado. Buster pulled a baby carriage out of the path of a careening truck. Blue, who had never been known to bark, used his voice to bring help to his wounded master. Dopey's constant barking saved the life of a baby left in a sweltering car. Little Bit brought love and companionship to a nursing home resident.

Each story is told in the unique, sometimes humorous, but always Compelling voice of the person whose life was changed by the heroic action of a very extraordinary dog. Betsy Byars and her daughters Betsy Duffey and Laurie Myers have joined forces to create dog stories full of adventure and suspense. Loren Long's paintings capture the heroic dignity of each of the dogs and heighten the drama of their special stories.

The Breadwinner
This book is about a girl named Parvana who disguises herself as a boy to support her family. She lives in Kabul, Afghanistan, a place controlled by the Taliban. The Taliban are an extreme religious group that is quickly taking over the country. Most of their laws ban women from doing the simplest things, such as going outside without covering their entire body with cloth, working, and even going outside without a man. The laws forbid any sort of music, foreign ideas, and pretty much everything the Taliban don’t like. Girls aren’t even allowed to go to school. Many men and older boys are satisfied with the new rules, and are happy to make their wives stay inside. But not Parvana’s father.

Parvana’s father was a former history teacher, until he lost his school and his lower leg in a bombing. He is the one that makes the family’s money and sustains their well-being. That is, until he is arrested for no apparent reason by the Taliban, leaving Parvana and her family to fend for themselves. He is the only man in the house, except for an infant named Ali. So the family is left alone, with apparently no hope, no friends, and only one room to sit and squander. But then they meet Mrs. Weera, a former P.E. teacher and grandmother. She gives Parvana and her “team” hope and comes up with the idea to disguise Parvana as a boy. Parvana is sure that she won’t get away with it and, lo and behold, she goes to work for days without being spotted – by the Taliban, that is. During her first couple days of selling things here and there, she spots a boy that looks quite familiar. She quickly figures out that it’s not a boy at all – it’s her old classmate Shauzia. In the past they weren’t very close, they had different friends, but now their friendship is one of the few things that keeps them sane. They pull each other into things that they probably shouldn’t be doing. Will Parvana see her dad again?

Daughter of Liberty
Wyn Mabie was a young wife, and lived with her aunt and her family. Her husband was away in the Continental Army, and Wyn often took horseback rides at night to work out some of her tension. One evening as she was returning from a ride, she met General Washington. As they spoke, he mentioned his concern for some strategic papers still hidden in his previous headquarters, now occupied by the British. Wyn volunteers to ride through the British lines, somehow make her way into the building, retrieve the papers, and return them to the general, a mission on which Nathan Hale had failed and lost his life. After prayer with her family, this courageous young woman sets out. The rest of the book follows her journey, and details some of her narrow escapes and painful determination, finally seeing her safely back with the papers.

The Story of Molly Pitcher
When Molly Hayes helps the American troops at the G Battle of Monmouth, she earns a new name, Molly Pitcher. Read about her adventure

George the Drummer Boy
More than two hundred years ago, Boston belonged to the British. George was a drummer boy with the King's soldiers there. He wanted to be friends with the people of Boston. But they did not like the soldiers. They shouted and threw things at them. One night, George and the other soldiers were sent on a secret mission. They crossed the river and headed toward Concord. George had no idea that this was the start of the American Revolution.

The mystery revolves around a rare edition of The Wizard of Oz that becomes missing from the local library. Becky is accused of stealing it, so she and her twin brother Toby decide to catch the real thief and prove her innocence. Clues are cleverly hidden in four other books that lead to a hidden treasure--and an exciting adventure.

Stormbreak
Alex Rider thinks he is a normal school boy, until his uncle is killed. He discovers that his uncle was actually spy on a mission, when he was killed. Alex is recruited by Alan Blunt to continue the mission. He is sent to Cornwall to investigate a new computer system, which Darrius Sayle has created. He plans to give the new computer systems to every school in the country, but Mr. Blunt has other ideas and Alex must find out what it is.

Tangerine - twelve-year-old Paul moves to a new school and hopes to start anew, maybe even make a name for himself in middle school soccer—even though all his father thinks about is his high-school-age brother Erik’s future in football. Paul is visually impaired (without his Coke bottle glasses), but it’s everyone else who seems to be blind to Erik’s dangerous nature. The book is written as a journal by Paul that includes truth, memory, culture, courage . . . and soccer. Paul is a character well worth cheering for.


Red Kayak - This is a great suspenseful tale of three teenagers caught in a web of lies. Brady loves life on the Chesapeake Bay with his friends J.T. and Digger. But developers and rich families are moving into the area, and while Brady befriends some of them, like the DiAngelos, his parents and friends are bitter about the changes. Tragedy strikes when the DiAngelos’ kayak overturns in the bay, and Brady wonders if it was more than an accident. Soon, Brady discovers the terrible truth behind the kayak’s sinking, and it will change the lives of those he loves forever.

Runaway Ralph - This is the second book in Beverly Cleary's series about Ralph the mouse. In this book, Ralph, the adventurous mouse, is tired of living in his mother's home at the Mountain View Inn and chooses to go off on his own. It's a story full of adventure and humor. You can't help but like Ralph!

Gregor the Overlander -
When eleven-year-old Gregor follows his little sister through a grate in the laundry room of their New York apartment, he hurtles into the dark Underland beneath the city. There, humans live uneasily beside giant spiders, bats, cockroaches, and rats—but the fragile peace is about to fall apart. He discovers that a strange prophecy predicts a role for him in the Underland’s uncertain future and realizes it might be the only way to solve the biggest mystery of his life. The book is full of suspense and brimming with adventure.

Al Capone Does My Shirts
Summary
Moose Flanagan and his family have just moved to Alcatraz Island so that his father can take a job as a prison guard and his sister Natalie can go to a special school in San Francisco. Moose misses his old baseball team, and he struggles for recognition in his new school.
Then his sister Natalie, who suffers from autism, is rejected from the Esther P. Marinoff School, crushing his parents' hopes for Natalie's education. Now Moose must take care of Natalie after school while his mother teaches music lessons, and he must find a way to deal with Natalie's screaming fits and constant needs.
Complicating Moose's life even more is Piper, the daughter of the prison warden. Piper lures Moose into her scheme to make money by collecting laundry from their classmates with the promise that Al Capone is among the convicts assigned to laundry duty on Alcatraz.
Gradually Moose adjusts to life on Alcatraz, even finding ways to help Natalie fit in with the other children on the island, and he is able to convince his mother that he really does have his sister's best interests in mind. After the Flanagans have tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully to enroll Natalie in the Esther P. Marinoff School, Moose secretly writes a note to Al Capone, asking him to help Natalie. Piper slips Moose's note into the prison's dirty laundry. Will a famous convict be the one to help Moose's Family?

Hot melted rock from the middle of our planet forces its way up through cracks in the Earth’s crusts, exploding violently and sometimes unexpectedly in volcanic fury that can terrorize populations for months, even years. Anne Schreiber’s narrative gives readers a little of the science, a little of the history, and a lot of the action. National Geographic photography fires the imagination on dramatic spreads alive with vivid images of lava, ash, molten rock, weird rocks, and steaming seawater.
Nonfiction books offers something different from fiction books. Think of the reading strategies that are involved. Think of the different parts that are useful.

"Courageous Canine!" combines everything -- exciting adventures, wonderful animals, daring rescues. It's a small, picture-filled chapter book about amazing animal heroes. The stories show how animals can love and help humans -- often putting their own lives at risk to do so. There are three stories.

The first story is about a rescued pit bull, Lilly and how she saves a woman's life. The next story show Dolphins who have rescued people from shark attacks.. The truly amazing stories are thrilling to read, but they don't make this reader want to venture into shark-infested waters.

And last is the story that inspired its own book -- the story of Roscoe and Suryia -- a coonhound and orangutan who are best friends. Theirs is a story as unique and wonderful as many others not included in this book -- a bear in a zoo who befriended a cat, a gorilla with a pet kitten, and a cheetah and a dog.