Middle School Battle of the Books 2021-2022

Exactly one year after her mother died in a random public shooting, Nora and her father go rock-climbing in the desert. After they descend into a canyon, her father and all of their supplies get washed away in a flash flood. Nora is left to try to find her way to safety alone, facing dehydration, dangerous desert animals, and her PTSD.

After a fight at school leaves Marcus facing suspension, his mother takes him and his younger brother, who has Down syndrome, to Puerto Rico to visit relatives they do not remember or have never met. While there Marcus starts searching for his father, who left their family ten years ago and is somewhere on the island.

African American eighth grader Drew Ellis is used to working hard, but he's starting to realize that even if he works ten times as hard as his classmates at the privileged Riverdale Academy Day School, he still won't be given the same opportunities as they are. To make things worse, Drew begins to feel that his good friend Liam is one of those privileged kids, especially after a visit to Liam's giant house. Drew wants to pretend like everything's...

Bullied and shamed her whole life for being fat, twelve-year-old Ellie finally gains the confidence to stand up for herself, with the help of some wonderful new allies.

When twelve-year-old Ross is diagnosed with a rare form of eye cancer, he just wants things to be normal. But he soon discovers normal is overrated and that with music, art, and the support of his true friends, he can make it through his treatments and middle school.

When Snap finds a litter of orphaned opossums, she brings them to Jacks, a strange woman who's rumored to be a witch. In return for taking care of the opossums, Snap agrees to help Jacks with her work. As Snap gets to know Jacks, she realizes that Jacks may in fact have actual magic, as well as an unlikely connection to Snap's own family.

Sixth-grader best friends Miles and Rhys know each other only from online video game interactions in their favorite game "Mecha Melee," Miles playing as the pyro mech Gryphon and Rhys as the blade mech Backslash. When real-life wrongdoing rears its head and splits the duo's lives online and off, right before BattleCon and the Every Game Ever tournament are about to start. The boys have to find a way back to friendship before they miss their chance....

"It's 1963, and things are changing for Jezebel Turner. Her beloved grandmother has just passed away. The local police deputy won't stop harassing her family. With school integration arriving in South Carolina, Jez and her twin brother, Jay, are about to begin the school year with a bunch of new kids. But the biggest change comes when Jez and Jay turn eleven--and their uncle, Doc, tells them he's going to train them in rootwork. Jez and Jay have always...

All of the light in Chattana is made by one man, the Governor. The magical lights represent freedom for Pong, who was born in Namwon Prison and he dreams of walking among them. But when Pong escapes from Namwon, he discovers that the outside world is just as unfair as life in the prison. Nok, the prison warden's daughter, searches for Pong in order to restore her family's good name, but she uncovers secrets that make her question everything she's...

Feeling lonely and out of place after her family moves to a new town, eleven-year-old Fiona Crane ventures to the local library, where she finds a gripping mystery novel about a small town, family secrets, and a tragic disappearance.