The 5th & 6th Grade Battle of the Books is coming! On Wednesday, April 2 at 6:00 PM, students in grades 5 & 6 will battle for book knowledge supremacy at the Moon Area Middle School Gym.
Registration
- Team registration must be completed by March 1, 2025. Click HERE to register.
- Teams have 1-5 members.
- If you can’t find a team or need members for your team, contact Ms. Megan.
- Team managers will receive an information packet upon registration.
Books
Gamerville
By Johnnie Christmas
Available as a book.
Summary: Max Lightning has finally qualified for Gamerville, a championship where players compete to be top dog in the multiplayer video game Lone Wolf of Calamity Bay. But his dreams of domination are quickly dashed when his parents send him to Camp Reset, a tech-free summer camp, instead. Long nights of energy drinks and screen time have been replaced with fresh air and group activities under the hot sun–a shock to the system for a lone wolf like Max. Can Max escape Camp Reset and level up at Gamerville, or has he finally played his last match?
The Mystery of the Locked Rooms
By Lindsay Currie
Available as a book and ebook.
Summary: Twelve-year-old Sarah Greene wants nothing more from her seventh-grade year than to beat the hardest escape room left in her town with her best friends, West, and Hannah. But when a foreclosure notice shows up on Sarah’s front door, everything changes. Since her father became ill two years ago, things have been bad, but not lose your house bad…until now.
Sarah feels helpless until the day Hannah mentions a treasure rumored to be hidden in the walls of an abandoned funhouse. According to legend, Hans, Stefan, and Karl Stein were orphaned at eight years old and lived with different families until they were able to reunite as adults. Their dream was to build the most epic funhouse in existence. They wanted their experience to be more than mirror mazes and optical illusions, so they not only created elaborate riddles and secret passages, but they also claimed to have hidden a treasure inside the funhouse.
Once in, Sarah, West, and Hannah realize the house is unlike any escape room they’ve attempted. There are challenges, yes, but they feel personal. Like the triplets knew who would get in. It seems impossible, but so does everything about the house. As soon as they’re in she immediately worries that attempting the funhouse is a bad idea but Sarah has no choice but to continue, since her future is at stake.
The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, A Shocking Heist, and the Birth of A Global Celebrity
By Nicholas Day & Brett Helquist
Available as a book, Playaway, ebook, and digital audiobook.
Summary: A narrative nonfiction about how the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre, how the robbery made the portrait the most famous artwork in the world, and how the painting by Leonardo da Vinci should never have existed at all.
And Then, Boom!
By Lisa Fipps
Available as a book and digital audiobook.
Summary: Joe Oak is used to living on unsteady ground. His mom can’t be depended on as she never stays around long once she gets “the itch,” and now he and his beloved grandmother find themselves without a home. Fortunately, Joe has an outlet in his journals and drawings and takes comfort from the lessons of comic books—superheroes have a lot of “and then, boom” moments, where everything threatens to go bust but somehow they land on their feet. And that seems to happen a lot to Joe too, as in this crisis his friend Nick helps them find a home in his trailer park.
But things fall apart again when Joe is suddenly left to fend for himself. He doesn’t tell anyone he’s on his own, as he fears foster care and has hope his mom will come back. But time is running out—bills are piling up, the electricity’s been shut off, and the school year’s about to end, meaning no more free meals. The struggle to feed himself gets intense, and Joe finds himself dumpster diving for meals. He’s never felt so alone—until an emaciated little dog and her two tiny pups cross his path. And fate has even more in store for Joe, because an actual tornado is about to hit home—and just when it seems all is lost, his life turns in a direction that he never could have predicted.
Freewater
By Amina Luqman-Dawson
Available as a book, ebook, and digital audiobook.
Summary: After fleeing the plantation where they were enslaved, siblings Ada and Homer discover the secret community of Freewater, and work with freeborn Sanzi to protect their new home from the encroaching dangers of the outside world..
Dead City #1
By James Ponti
Available as a book and ebook.
Summary: Most kids have enough to deal with between school, homework, extracurricular activities, and friends, but Molly Bigelow isn’t your typical tween. By day, Molly attends MIST—the Metropolitan Institute of Science and Technology—but it’s what she’s learning outside of school that sets her apart from her classmates. Molly is a zombie hunter, just like her mother.
This, however, is news to Molly. Now she must come to terms with not only the idea that zombies exist, but also that they’re everywhere, and it’s her job to help police them and keep the peace. Sure, she’d like to be a regular kid, but “regular” just isn’t possible when it turns out the most revered (or feared, depending on your perspective) zombie hunter in the history of New York City is your mother. It seems Molly’s got some legendary footsteps to follow…
The Explorer
by Katherine Rundell
Available as a book, ebook, and digital audiobook.
Summary: Left stranded in the Amazon jungle when their plane crashes on their way back to England from Manaus, Brazil, four children struggle to survive for days until one of them finds a map that leads them to a ruined city and a secret hidden among the vines.
Impossible Creatures #1
by Katherine Rundell
Available as a book, large print book, Playaway, ebook, and digital audiobook.
Summary: The day Christopher saved a drowning baby griffin from a hidden lake would change his life forever. It’s the day he learned about the Archipelago, a cluster of unmapped islands where magical creatures of every kind have thrived for thousands of years—until now. And it’s the day he met Mal, a girl on the run who desperately needs his help.
Mal and Christopher embark on a wild adventure, racing from island to island, searching for someone who can explain why the magic is fading and why magical creatures are suddenly dying. They consult sphinxes, battle kraken, and negotiate with dragons. But the closer they get to the dark truth of what’s happening, the clearer it becomes: no one else can fix this. If the Archipelago is to be saved, Mal and Christopher will have to do it themselves.
My Life #5: My Life As a Gamer
By Janet & Jake Tashjian
Available as a book.
Summary: Derek Fallon gets the chance of a lifetime when he is asked to test software for new video games, but he soon discovers that his dream job isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Sharks, Inc. #1: Fins
by Randy Wayne White
Available as a book and ebook.
Summary: The world’s shark population is in trouble for a sad, simple reason: shark fin soup. And although it’s illegal, poachers have been targeting Florida’s biannual migration of blacktip sharks. Marine biologist Doc Ford needs some assistance protecting the sharks and enlists the help of three kids, Luke, Marta, and Sabina. Together they form Sharks, Inc. and are given an important assignment: to set out each day on their small fishing boat in hopes of tagging sharks for Doc’s research. The trio certainly isn’t looking for trouble, but when they come face to face with danger, survival requires them to rely on each of their own unique gifts, and especially on one another.
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 30 seconds to write down their answers.
- Up to 5 points are awarded for each answer.
