BATTLE OF THE BOOKS 2010-11
Red Denotes New Titles

1. A BRAND NEW ME (Hank Zipzer Series) by Henry Winkler – It is graduation time for Hank and all his friends and time to move on from PS87 to middle school. Trouble is, there are tests Hank had to pass to get into the same middle schools as his friends, and his learning differences might get in the way. Luckily, a life-altering audition at a performing arts middle school helps him find his true path.

2. ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS by Brandon Sanderson – Alcatraz Smedry doesn’t seem destined for anything but disaster. On his 13^th birthday he receives a bag of sand, which is quickly stolen by the cult of evil librarians plotting to take over the world. The sand will give the Librarians the edge they need to achieve world domination. Alcatraz must stop them by infiltrating the local library, armed with nothing but eyeglasses and a talent for klutziness.

3. THE ALCHEMYST (The Secret of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel Series Bk. 1) by Michael Scott – 15 year old twins, Josh and Sophie it turns out are potentially powerful magicians. They are spoken of in a prophecy appearing in the ancient Book of Abraham of Mage. All but two pages of which have been stolen by evil John Dee, alchemist and magician.

4. THE BOOK OF STORY BEGINNINGS by Kristin Kladstrup – When Lucy Martin moves to the house in Iowa that her father inherited from his Aunt Lavonne, she hopes to solve the mystery of Lavonne’s, she hopes to solve the mystery of Lavonne’s brother’s disappearance in 1914, when he was 14. He supposedly rowed off in a boat on a magical ocean that lapped at the garden gate. When Lucy finds the Book of Story Beginnings and writes in it about a girl whose father was a magician, her father becomes a magician who has invented a transforming potion.

5. THE BOOK OF TIME by Guillaume Prevost – Sam’s father has been missing for 10 days. Searching a dusty bookstore for clues, Sam discovers a hidden room containing an old book, a strange coin and an oddly carved stone that send him on a gut wrenching journey back to medieval Iona, just in time for a Viking invasion. Next, he lands in France during World War I, then in ancient Egypt. After he returns, Sam struggles to understand how the time travel device works and what it all means.

6. THE BRIMSTONE KEY (Grey Griffins: The Clockwork Chronicles Series Bk. 1) by Derek Benz & J.S. Lewis – A year ago, the Griffins were just regular kids from Avalon, Minnesota. That was before they learned about the existence of evil fairies, werewolves, and other things that go bump in the night. Now they are monster hunters, celebrated heroes, and allies to the legendary Templar Knights, but even heroes have to go to school.

7. THE CASE OF THE MISSING MARQUESS (Enola Holmes Series Bk. 1) by Nancy Springer - Enola was a late-life baby, causing something of a scandal in society. Her rather vague mother is a 64 year old widow who disappears on Enola’s 14^th birthday. It takes the girl a short time to realize that her mother left her some ciphers that indicate why she went away and how she is faring. The teen reluctantly enlists the services of her adult brothers, who quickly determine that Lady Holmes had been padding the household accounts for years. When they decide that their sister belongs at a boarding school, Enola escapes and heads for London dressed as a widow.

8. CHASING LINCOLN’S KILLER: THE SEARCH FOR JOHN WILKES BOOTH by James L. Swanson – Devoted to the South, John Wilkes Booth had planned to kidnap Lincoln and hold him hostage, but when that plan did not materialize, he hatched his assassination plot. Coconspirators in Washington, Maryland, and Virginia helped him escape and evade capture for 12 days before being surrounded in a barn and killed.

9. CHRISTIAN THE LION by Anthony Bourke and John Rendell - As Ace and John, two friends, are searching for holiday gifts in London. They come across a lion cub for sale in Harrods, the famous department store. Unable to bear the thought of leaving the cub, Ace and John take him home and name him Christian. After a year of fun and mischief Christian has grown up, and Ace and John realize that their pet needs to be among other lions and deserves to live free, in his natural environment. Luckily, friends help introduce Christian to the African wild.

10. CONFESSIONS FROM THE PRINCIPLES CHAIR by Anne Myers – After Robin and her group of eighth grade friends, known as the Six Pack, are caught mistreating a class-mate, Robin’s mother moves them from Denver to Prairie Dog Town, OK. Dressed in a tailored suit chosen to bother her free spirited mother, Robin goes to enroll in her new middle school and is mistaken for the substitute principal who has the same name. During her two days in office, she encounters a girl who is constantly tormented by the clique, gains insight into the victim’s perspective and works to empower her and address harassing behavior.

11. CONFETTI GIRL by Diana Lopez – Lina attends middle school in Corpus Christi, TX, has a crush on classmate Luis, loves science and sports and has a sock obsession as a result of her pants never being long enough for her tall body. Her best friend, Vanessa Cantu, lives across the street with her mother, who is still bitter about a divorce that happened a few years earlier. Lina’s mother died last year and her father is still grieving but struggling to live up to his responsibilities.

12. THE COWGIRL WAY: HATS OFF TO AMERICA’S WOMEN OF THE WEST by Holly George Warren – Famous figures such as Belle Starr, Calamity Jane and Annie Oakley are discussed. The real delights are the anecdotes on lesser-known figures such as Lucille Mulhall, the first woman to be dubbed a cowgirl in print. By age 11, she could rope animals including steers, jackrabbits and wolves. The introduction of women as rodeo and trick riders and their contributions to the sports in the 1920’s and 30’s are covered along with the film and singing sensations of the 1940’s and 50’s such as Barbara Stanwyck and Dale Evans.

13. DARING TO DREAM (Wildwood Stables Series Bk. 1) by Suzanne Weyn – Taylor Henry loves horses, but her single mom can’t afford riding lessons, much less a horse. So when she discovers and abandoned gelding and pony, Taylor is happy just to be around them. The rescued animals have nowhere to go and Taylor is running out of time to find them a good home. Could the empty old barn on Wildwood Lane be the answer? Could Taylor’s wildest dream of a horse to call her own finally be coming true?

14. DESPERATE JOURNEY by Time Murphy – Maggie Haggerty lives and works on a boat on the Erie Canal with her mother, father, uncle and younger brother. Set in 1848, this novel follows what happens when her father and uncle are arrested for assault. Her mother has been ill, so it falls to the 12 year old to get their shipment to Buffalo in time to make their much needed bonus so they won’t lose their boat and to get back to New Boston in time for the trial.

15. A DOG’S LIFE: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A STRAY by Ann Martin – Squirrel and her brother Bone are pups living in a country estates garden shed. When their mother fails to return one day, Squirrel follows her brother to look for a new home. Mother had taught them basic survival skills, to hunt for food and beware of humans.

16. DORK DIARIES: TALES OF A NOT-SO-FABULOUS LIFE by Rachel R. Russell – Fourteen year old Nikki J. Maxwell has been awarded a scholarship to a prestigious private middle school as a part of her father’s bug extermination contract. She deals with the resident mean girl, her embarrassing parents, her crush on the hot boy and making new friends are all recorded alongside numerous sketches of her life.

17. ELEPHANT RUN by Roland Smith – In 1941, bombs drop from the night skies of London, demolishing the apartment Nick Freestone lives in with his mother. Deciding the situation in England is too unstable, Nick’s mother sends him to live with his father in Burma, hoping he will be safer living on the family’s teak plantation. As soon as Nick arrives, trouble erupts in the remote Burmese elephant village. Japanese soldiers invade and Nick’s father is taken prisoner. Nick is left stranded on the plantation, forced to work as a servant to the new rulers. As life in the village grows more dangerous for Nick and his young friend, Mya, they plan their daring escape.

18. EYE OF THE CROW (Boy Sherlock Holmes Series Bk. 1) by Shane Peacock – Sherlock Holmes, just thirteen, is a misfit. His highborn mother is the daughter of an aristocratic family, his father a poor Jew. Their marriage flouts tradition and makes them social pariahs in the London of the 1860s; and their son, Sherlock, bears the burden of their rebellion. Friendless, bullied at school, he belongs nowhere and has only his wits to help him make his way.

19. FAITH, HOPE AND IVY JUNE by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor – Ivy June is from rural coal country in Kentucky staying with an upper middle class family for two weeks over spring break and the return visit of the daughter of that household, Catherine. The living situations of the seventh graders are at two extremes and yet both girls have the humanity and distinctness that allow them to escape the confines of representing their classes. Make no mistake, this is Ivy June’s story, and her family woes are not. The exchange program set up by the schools is a perfect showcase for looking at the role of wealth and poverty in our assumptions about one another

20. FLIPPED by Wendelin Van Draanen – Julie Baker devoutly believes in three things: the sanctity of trees (especially her beloved sycamore), the wholesomeness of the eggs she collects from her backyard flock of chickens, and that someday she will kiss Bryce Loski. Ever since she saw Bryce’s baby blues back in second grade, Juli has been smitten. Unfortunately, Bryce has never felt the same. Frankly, he thinks Juli Baker is a little weird after all, what kind of freak raises chickens and sits in trees for fun?

21. FLUSH by Carl Hiaasen – Noah Underwood’s dad has sunk the gambling ship, the Coal Queen, in protest. Now the elder Underwood is launching a media campaign form his jail cell to raise public awareness since the sewage spewing ship will soon be back in operation. Though Noah and his younger sister Abbey believe in their father’s cause, they also fear their mother will file for divorce if he continues to react so outrageously to environment issues.

22. FOOTBALL HERO by Tim Green – In this novel by a former NFL star, middle schooler Ty Lewis is going through a tough time following the death of his parents. He has been taken in by his aunt and uncle, but they treat him badly, dressing him in hand me downs, making him sleep on a mattress on the floor of the laundry room, and forcing him to use a portable toilet in the backyard even though there is a bathroom in the house.

23. FRINDEL by Andrew Clements – Ten year old Nick Allen has a reputation for devising clever, time wasting schemes guaranteed to distract even the most conscientious teacher. His diversions backfire in Mrs. Granger’s fifth grade class, however, resulting in Nick being assigned an extra report on how new entries are added to the dictionary. Surprisingly, the research provides Nick with his best idea ever and he decides to coin his own new record.

24. GHOST SHIP by Dietlof Reiche – A summer job waiting tables at her father’s seaside restaurant, Ye Olde Seashell Room, gets more interesting for 12 year old Vicki when a mystery brews surrounding an old sailing ship and missing gold. The figurehead of the Storm Goddess, a local ship from 230 years ago, hangs on the wall of the restaurant. When it is taken down for restoration, Vicki discovers a hidden secret and she and a vacationing boy named Peter become involved in a suspenseful adventure.

25. GRIFFIN’S CASTLE by Jenny Nimmo – Dinah, 11, is bright and self-sufficient but has a young, single and somewhat immature mother. Ever since the child can remember, they have moved from one makeshift living arrangement to another, till Dinah’s greatest desire is to have a stable home for the two of them. When the mother’s new, wealthy boyfriend move them into his huge dilapidated old mansion, Dinah is determined to make her wish come true.

26. THE GRIMM LEGACY by Polly Shulman – Feeling left out from her stepfamily at home and from her classmates at her new school; Elizabeth is delighted when she gets a job at the New York Circulating Material Repository, a library that loans objects of historical value. She’s particularly intrigued when she’s given access to the Grimm Collection, a secret room that holds magical objects from the Brothers’ tales, e.g., seven –league boots, a mermaid’s comb, and the sinister mirror from “Snow White.” However, when the items start to disappear, she and her fellow pages embark on a dangerous quest to catch a thief, only to find themselves among the suspects.

27. HOOT by Carl Hiaasen - Roy Eberhardt is the new kid again. This time around its Trace Middle School is humid Coconut Grove, Florida. But it’s still the same old routine: table by himself at lunch, no real friends, and thick headed bullies like Dana Matherson pushing him around. If it wasn’t for Dana Matherson mashing his face against the school bus window that one day, he might never have seen the running boy. If he had never seen the running boy, he might never have met tall, tough, bully beating Beatrice.

28. HOW TO STEAL A DOG by Barbara O’Connor – Georgina and her family have been living in their car since her father left and they were evicted from their apartment. Mama is working two jobs to earn rent money and trying hard to hold things together. Desperate to help out, Georgina decides to steal a dog for the reward money, laying out the details for her plan in a diary. However, the dog’s owner can’t afford to offer a reward and Georgina ends up feeling sorry for the lonely woman.

29. KING SOLOMON’S MINES by H. Rider Haggard - Three med set out on a journey into the heart of Africa to search for a lost friend. They stumble upon an unknown county, cut off from civilization and learn of a diamond mine from which no one has returned….

30. LAURA INGALLS WILDER BIOGRAPHY by William Anderson -This biography o the quintessential pioneer girl who loved the “Little House” stories and later captured them for posterity in her books is substantial in length and content. Like the subject’s enduring series, it not only chronicles growing up on the frontier, but also pictures a way life that has long since vanished.

31. LEEPIKE RIDGE by N.D. Wilson – Eleven year old Tom Hammond lives with his widowed mother in a windblown old house chained to the top of a gigantic rock. One night, unable to sleep, he heads down to the stream that borders their property, where he has left a heavy piece of refrigerator packing foam. What starts out as aimless drifting down quiet water turns deadly when Tom’s foam slab feeds into the rougher mountain water and he is pulled under a rock, ending up in an underwater cavern. The secrets he discovers while attempting to find his way out of the mountain caves are suprising.

32. MAGIC BELOW STAIRS by Caroline Stevermer – When Frederick Lincoln, an orphan, is chosen to be trained as a footman in the house of Thomas Scholfield, he brings nothing with him or so it seems. The boy is actually accompanied y Billy Bly, a hardworking but mischievous brownie. Is Frederick’s uncanny boot polishing and cravat tying skills due to his own eagerness to be useful, or to a budding magical talent helped along by Billy Bly?

33. THE MAGNIFICENT MUMMY MAKER by Elvira Woodruff – Tired of being compared to his brilliant, 10 year old stepbrother, Jason, Andy Manotti, also 10, resigns himself to mediocrity, but the plot thickens. When the fifth grade classes visit the local museum, he feels a strong and powerful link to an Egyptian mummy display. Back to school, Andy draws an exquisite picture of a mummy case and soon finds that it has the power to grant him wishes.

34. THE MAZE OF BONES (The 39 Clues Series Bk. 1) by Rick Riordan – When their beloved Aunt Grace dies, Dan, 11 and Amy, 14 along with the Cahill descendants are forced with an unusual choice: inherit one million dollars or participate in a perilous treasure hunt. The Cahill’s have determined the course of history for centuries and this quest’s outcome will bring the victors untoward power and affect all of mankind.

35. MISTER MONDAY by Garth Nix – Arthur Penhaligon’s school year is not off to a good start. On his first day, he suffers as asthma attack while running cross country and dreams that a mysterious figure hands him a key shaped like the minute hand of a clock. However, when he wakes up, he still has the key. That’s when strange things begin to happen.

36. MUDSHARK by Gary Paulsen - His reflexes honed chasing triplet toddler sisters, Lyle Williams, 12 earned the nickname Mudshark during an especially fierce game of Death Ball. He relished reading and observing the world as much as he enjoys sports, and his memory for finding lost articles wins him the prestige of unofficial school detectives. The inevitable trouble in paradise occurs when the librarian’s psychic parrot threatens his reputation.

37. MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN by Jean Craighead George – Every kid thinks about running away at one point or another; few get farther than the end of the block. Young Sam Gribley gets to the end of the block and keeps going all the way to the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. There he sets up house in a huge hollowed out tree, with a falcon and a weasel for companions and his wits as his tool for survival.

38. MY THIRTEENTH SEASON by Kristi Roberts - After moving to a new town, star baseball player Fran Cullers discovers that she is not welcome on the boys’ team. Her father’s grief over her mother’s death prevents him from being much support or help. Although the coach is removed from the team for his abuse toward her, Fran is badly shaken and falls into a slump. She decides to give up the game, but finds that living without baseball is like living without her mom.

39. NAVAJO CODE TALKERS by Nathan Aaseng - A fascinating account that sheds light on a little known contribution of the Navajos during World War II. A civil engineer who spent his childhood among them suggested that their language be used as a perfect unbreakable code. The result was one of the most secret important aspects of U.S. Intelligence work against the Japanese – Navajo code talking.

40. ORACLES OF DELPHI KEEP by Victoria Laurie – Along the southern coast of England atop the White Cliffs of Dover stands a castle. At the castle’s old keep is an orphanage. Delphi Keep has seen many youngsters come and go through its gates, and Ian Wigby and his sister, Theodosia, are happy to call it home. Life has always been simple at the keep, and the orphanage safe, until one day, Ian and Theo find a silver treasure box within the box, a prophecy.

41. THE ORPHAN OF ELLIS ISLAND by Elvira Woodruff – Dominic Cantori has spent most of his life in foster care. When a guide asks Dominic’s fifth grade class to talk about their families during a field trip to Ellis Island, the boy is embarrassed because he has no heritage to discuss and hides in a storage closet where her promptly falls asleep. Waking after the museum closes he panics until the prerecorded voice of one of the exhibits soothes him back to sleep. When he wakes again, he finds himself in Italy in 1908.

42. RED PYRAMID (Kane Chronicles Series Bk. 1) by Rick Riordan – Carter, 14 and Sadie, 12, have grown up apart. He has traveled all over the world with his Egyptologist father, Dr. Julius Kane, while Sadie has lived in London with her grandparents. Their mother passed away under mysterious circumstances, so when their father arrives in London and wants to take them both on a private tour of the British Museum, all is not necessarily what it seems.

43. ROY MORRELLI STEPS UP TO THE PLATE by Thatcher Heldring - Poor grades trip up a talented but arrogant eighth grader destined (or so he thinks) to play for the local All-Star and high school baseball teams. Bored to tears in history class and on the verge of failing, Roy in nonetheless outraged when his divorced parents pull him out of all baseball except the wretched weekend rec league and saddle him with a tutor, who also happens to be his Dad’s new girlfriend.

44. THE SHADOWS (The Books of Elsewhere Series Bk.1) by Jaqueline West – When eleven year old Olive moves into the crumbling old mansion on Linden Street, she’s right to think there’s something weird about the place, especially the walls covered in creepy antique paintings. But when she finds a pair of old fashioned glasses in a dusty drawer, she discovers the most peculiar thing yet.

45. THE SIXTH GRADE NAME GAME by Gordon Korman – Wiley and Jeff has been best friends for all of their 11 years. Notorious for the nicknames they have awarded the people in their school, they are quick to dub their new teacher, Mr. Hughes, the former high-school football coach with a booming voice and can do attitude, Mr. Huge. However, their game soon begins to backfire. A bet with a classmate that nicknames don’t stick unless they fit has unpredicted results.

46. SWINDLE by Gordon Korman – After a mean collector named Swindle cons him our or his most valuable baseball card, Griffin Bing must put together a band of misfits to break into Swindle’s compound and recapture the card. There are many things standing in their way, a menacing guard dog, a high-tech security system, a very secret hiding place and their ability to drive. Griffin and his team are going to get back what’s rightfully his even if hijinks ensue.

47. THEODORE BOONE: KID LAWYER by John Grisham - There are many lawyers, and though he’s only thirteen years old, Theo Boon thinks he’s one of them. Theo knows every judge, policeman, court clerk and a lot about the law. He dreams of being a great trial lawyer, of a life in the courtroom. But Theo finds himself in court much sooner than expected.

48. THE UNDERNEATH by Kathi Appelt & David Small – There is the tale of an abandoned, pregnant calico cat who finds shelter and friendship with the bloodhound, Ranger. He is the abused and neglected pet of Gar Face, a broken jawed recluse who lives in the Texas Bayou, where he fled 25 years previously to escape an abusive father. Finally there is a story of Grandmother Moccasin, a shape shifting water snake that has lain dormant in a jar for a thousand years, buried beneath a loblolly pine tree.

49. THE WALL AND THE WING by Laura Ruby – In a New York City of the future, almost everyone can fly except for lead foots like 12 year old Gurl, an orphan at the Hope House for the Homeless and Hopeless. When she sneaks out one night to rummage for food, she discovers that she can make herself invisible. When Mrs. Terwiliger, the matron who runs the institution, finds out about Gurls ability, she blackmails her into stealing clothing and perfumes and into fixing a $20,000 plastic sugeon bill by hacking into his computer.

50. WINDCATCHER by Avi – Tony Souza, 11, uses his paper route earnings to buy a 12 foot sailboat that he takes with him when he spends part of the summer with his grandmother on the Connecticut shore. During his stay, learns to sail and becomes intrigued by tale of buried treasure in the area. He and his grandmother learn more about the treasure, and he begins to piece together clues to its whereabouts. As he hunts, Tony encounters a couple who are illegally diving for the treasure, and they warn him away from their boat with an attack on his sailboat.