7th & 8th Grade Battle of the Books 2024

The 7th & 8th Grade Battle of the Books is coming! On Wednesday, February 21 at 7 PM, seventh and eighth graders will battle for book knowledge supremacy at Quaker Valley Middle School.

Registration

• Team registration must be completed by January 31 at 8:00 PM.
• Teams have 1-5 members.
• If you can’t find a team or need members for your team, contact Ms. Heather or Ms. Emily.
• Registration forms can be turned into your school librarian, Moon Library, Sewickley Library, or by email.
• Team managers will receive an information packet upon registration.

Books

The Door of No Return

By Kwame Alexander

Available as a book, CD audiobook, Playaway, Wonderbook, ebook, and digital audiobook.

Summary: In his village in Upper Kwanta, 11-year-old Kofi loves his family, playing oware with his grandfather and swimming in the river Offin. He’s warned though, to never go to the river at night. His brother tells him ”There are things about the water you do not know.” “Like what?” Kofi asks. “The beasts,” his brother answers.
 
One fateful night, the unthinkable happens, and in a flash, Kofi’s world turns upside down. Kofi soon ends up in a fight for his life and what happens next will send him on a harrowing journey across land and sea, and away from everything he loves.

A First Time for Everything

By Dan Santat

Available as a book.

Summary: Dan’s always been a good kid. The kind of kid who listens to his teachers, helps his mom with grocery shopping, and stays out of trouble. But being a good kid doesn’t stop him from being bullied and feeling like he’s invisible, which is why Dan has low expectations when his parents send him on a class trip to Europe.

At first, he’s right. He’s stuck with the same girls from his middle school who love to make fun of him, and he doesn’t know why his teacher insisted he come on this trip. But as he travels through France, Germany, Switzerland, and England, a series of first experiences begin to change him―first Fanta, first fondue, first time stealing a bike from German punk rockers…and first love.

Gideon Green in Black and White

By Katie Henry

Available as a book, ebook, and digital audiobook.

Summary: Gideon’s short-lived run as a locally-famous boy detective ended when middle school started, and everyone else–including his best friend, Lily–moved on while Gideon kept holding on to his trench coat, fedora, and his treasured film noir collection. Now, he’s sixteen and officially retired. That is, until Lily shows up suddenly at Gideon’s door, needing his help.

He might be mad at her for cutting him off with no explanation, but Gideon can’t turn down a case. As a cover, Gideon joins Lily on the school paper. Surprisingly, he finds himself warming up to the welcoming, close-knit staff…especially Tess, the cute, witty editor-in-chief.

But as the case gets bigger than Gideon or Lily could have anticipated, Gideon must balance his black-and-white quest for the truth with the full colors of real-life–or risk a permanent fade to black.

 

I Must Betray You

By Ruta Sepetys

Available as a book, large print book, Playaway, ebook, and digital audiobook.

Summary: 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.

Amidst the tyrannical dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu in a country governed by isolation and fear, Cristian is blackmailed by the secret police to become an informer. He’s left with only two choices: betray everyone and everything he loves—or use his position to creatively undermine the most notoriously evil dictator in Eastern Europe.

Cristian risks everything to unmask the truth behind the regime, give voice to fellow Romanians, and expose to the world what is happening in his country. He eagerly joins the revolution to fight for change when the time arrives. But what is the cost of freedom?

The Book of Tea #1: A Magic Steeped in Poison

By Judy I. Lin

Available as a book, ebook, and digital audiobook.

Summary: For Ning, the only thing worse than losing her mother is knowing that it’s her own fault. She was the one who unknowingly brewed the poison tea that killed her—the poison tea that now threatens to also take her sister, Shu.

When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom’s greatest shennong-shi—masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making—she travels to the imperial city to compete. The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be Ning’s only chance to save her sister’s life.

But between the backstabbing competitors, bloody court politics, and a mysterious (and handsome) boy with a shocking secret, Ning might actually be the one in more danger.

The Midnight Children

By Dan Gemeinhart

Available as a book, Playaway, and ebook.

Summary: In the dead of night, a truck arrives in Slaughterville, a small town curiously named after its windowless slaughterhouse. Seven mysterious kids with suitcases step out of the vehicle and into an abandoned home on a dead-end street, looking over their shoulders to make sure they aren’t noticed.

But Ravani Foster covertly witnesses their arrival from his bedroom window. Timid and lonely, Ravani is eager to learn everything he can about his new neighbors: What secrets are they hiding? And most mysterious of all…where are the adults?

Yet amid this shadowy group of children, Ravani finds an unexpected friend in the warm and gutsy Virginia. But with this friendship comes secrets revealed—and danger. When Ravani learns of a threat to his new friends, he must fight to keep them safe, or lose the only person who has ever understood him.

This Is Just a Test

By Madelyn Rosenberg & Wendy Wan-Long Shang

Available as a book.

Summary: David Da-Wei Horowitz has a lot on his plate. Preparing for his upcoming bar mitzvah would be enough work even if it didn’t involve trying to please his Jewish and Chinese grandmothers, who argue about everything. But David just wants everyone to be happy.

That includes his friend Scott, who is determined to win their upcoming trivia tournament but doesn’t like their teammate — and David’s best friend — Hector. Scott and David begin digging a fallout shelter just in case this Cold War stuff with the Soviets turns south… but David’s not so convinced he wants to spend forever in an underground bunker with Scott. Maybe it would be better if Hector and Kelli Ann came with them. But that would mean David has to figure out how to stand up for Hector and talk to Kelli Ann. Some days, surviving nuclear war feels like the least of David’s problems.

This Is Not the Jess Show #1

By Anna Carey

Available as a book, ebook, and digital audiobook.

Summary: Like many teens, sometimes it feels as though everything in Jess Flynn’s life has been engineered for maximum drama–from her performance at the school talent show, to the reappearance of her childhood best friend and perennial crush Jeremy, to her friends trying to set her up with one of the hottest guys in school. It’s almost as if everything might finally be going her way…until one day a tiny black phone with an apple logo on its screen falls out of her best friend’s backpack and lands at Jess’s feet.

The problem is, it’s 1998, and the first iPhone isn’t due out for another nine years.

Jess’s friends refuse to acknowledge the strange device. Her sister Sara, on hospice care with a terminal blood disease, for once can’t tell Jess what she should do. It’s almost as if everyone is hiding something from her. Even her beloved dog Fuller seems different…like, literally different, because he definitely didn’t have that same pattern of spots on his stomach last week…

Nothing in Jess Flynn’s world is as it seems, and as the cracks begin to show, Jess will discover her entire life is nothing more than someone else’s entertainment. Except in this reality, the outside world is no place anyone would want to escape to.

Rules

• Each team has a Team Manager. The Manager can be a family member, teacher, or high school student.
• Each team member can only borrow 3 books at a time.
• The overdue fines for Battle books are $0.25 per day.
• Teams arrive at Battle at least 15 minutes before it starts.
• The Battle Moderator will ask each question twice.
• There are 3 rounds with 1 question from each book.
• Teams have 20 seconds to write down their answers.
• Up to 5 points are awarded for each answer.