Battle of the Books
Find Your Reading List
Elementary School
- 4th Grade
- 5th Grade
- 6th Grade
- 7th Grade
- 8th Grade
- What is the Battle of the Books?
- Do I have to do Battle of the Books?
- How many people do I have to have on my team?
- Do all my teammates have to be from the same class?
- When do I have to have my team together?
- How many books do I have to read?
- How do I prepare?
- What do I get or win for doing Battle of the Books?
- When are the Battle of the Books competitions?
4th Grade
Dragons in a Bag
by Zetta Elliott
In Brooklyn, nine-year-old Jax joins Ma, a curmudgeonly witch who lives in his building, on a quest to deliver three baby dragons to a magical world, and along the way discovers his true calling.
Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel
by Nikki Grimes
Spunky third-grader Dyamonde Daniel misses her old neighborhood, but when she befriends a boy named Free, another new student at school, she finally starts to feel at home.
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: One Dead Spy
by Nathan Hale
Nathan Hale, who was an officer and spy for the American rebels during the Revolutionary War, shares his story, from his unlucky days at Yale to his later unlucky days as an officer, with a hangman and British officer.
Sylvia & Aki
by Winifred Conkling
At the start of World War II, Japanese-American third-grader Aki and her family are sent to an internment camp in Arizona, while Mexican-American third-grader Sylvia's family begins a fight to stop school segregation.
A Boy Called Bat
by Elana Arnold
When his veterinarian mom brings home a stray baby skunk that needs rehabilitation before it can be placed in a wild animal shelter, Bat, who has austim, resolves to prove that he is up to the challenge of caring for the skunk permanently.
Me, Frida, and the Secret of the Peacock Ring
by Angela Cervantes
While in Mexico, Paloma Marquez meets Lizzie and Gael, who present her with an irresistible challenge: The siblings want her to help them find a valuable ring that once belonged to beloved Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.
Earthquake Terror
by Peg Kehret
When an earthquake hits the isolated island in northern California where his family had been camping, twelve-year-old Jonathan Palmer must find a way to keep himself, his partially paralyzed younger sister, and their dog alive until help arrives.
5th Grade
Amina's Voice
by Hena Khan
A Pakistani-American Muslim girl struggles to stay true to her family's vibrant culture while simultaneously blending in at school after tragedy strikes her community.
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library
by Chris Grabenstein
Kyle and other students get to stay overnight in the new town library, designed by the famous gamemaker Luigi Lemoncello, but finds that come morning he must work with friends to solve puzzles in order to escape.
Ninth Ward
by Jewell Parker Rhodes
In New Orleans' Ninth Ward, twelve-year-old Lanesha, who can see spirits, and her adopted grandmother have no choice but to stay and weather the storm as Hurricane Katrina bears down upon them.
Number the Stars
by Lois Lowry
In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how to be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.
The Last-Last Day of Summer
by Lamar Giles
When adventurous cousins Otto and Sheed Alston accidentally extend the last day of summer by freezing time, they find the secrets between the unmoving seconds are not as much fun as they expected.
The Other Boy
by M.G. Hennessey
Hiding his transgender identity behind a veneer of an everyday student who loves baseball and working on his graphic novel, Shane is threatened with exposure by a classmate and begins a painful journey toward acceptance and empathy.
Tiger Boy
by Mitali Perkins
A tiger cub has escaped from a reserve in India, and Neel, a poor boy from the islands, is determined to find her in order to save her from being captured and sold on the black market by Mr. Gupta and his men.
Hello, Universe
by Erin Entrada Kelly
Virgil Salinas is shy and kindhearted and feels out of place in his crazy-about-sports family. Valencia Somerset, who is deaf, is smart, brave, and secretly lonely, and she loves everything about nature. Kaori Tanaka is a self-proclaimed psychic, whose little sister, Gen, is always following her around. And Chet Bullens wishes the weird kids would just stop being so different so he can concentrate on basketball. They aren’t friends, at least not until Chet pulls a prank that traps Virgil and his pet guinea pig at the bottom of a well.
When Stars are Scattered
by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed
Omar and his younger brother Hassan live in a refugee camp, and when an opportunity for Omar to get an education comes along, he must decide between going to school every day or caring for his nonverbal brother.
The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez
by Adrianna Cuevas
A twelve-year-old Cuban American boy must use his secret ability to save the inhabitants of his new town when it is threatened by a tule vieja, a witch that transforms into animals.
6th Grade
The Graveyard Book
By Neil Gaiman
After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own.
Front Desk
By Kelly Yang
Recent immigrants from China and desperate for work and money, ten-year-old Mia Tang's parents take a job managing a rundown motel in Southern California. Mia works the front desk and tries to cope with demanding customers and other recent immigrants.
Before the Ever After
By Jacqueline Woodson
ZJ's friends Ollie, Darry and Daniel help him cope when his father, a beloved professional football player, suffers severe headaches and memory loss that spell the end of his career.
King and the Dragonflies
By Kacen Callender In a small Louisiana town, one boy's grief takes him beyond the bayous of his backyard, to learn that there is no right way to be yourself.
Amari and the Night Brothers
By B.B. Alston
Thirteen-year-old Amari, a poor African American girl from the projects, gets an invitation from her missing brother to join the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs and join in the fight against an evil magician.
The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora
By Pablo Cartaya
Arturo is looking forward to a relaxing summer until a cute and funny girl moves into his apartment complex and a smarmy land developer rolls into town and threatens to change it.
A Single Shard
By Linda Sue Park
Tree-ear, a thirteen-year-old orphan in medieval Korea, lives under a bridge in a potters' village, and longs to learn how to throw the delicate celadon ceramics himself.
Lily and Dunkin
By Donna Gephart
Lily Jo McGrother, born Timothy McGrother, is a girl. Norbert "Dunkin" Dorfman, is bipolar and has just moved. One summer morning, Lily Jo McGrother meets Dunkin Dorfman, and their lives forever change.
Mockingbird : (Mok'ing-bûrd)
By Kathryn Erskine
Caitlin, who has Asperger's Syndrome, struggles to make friends at school, while at home she seeks closure over the death of her brother by working on a project with her father.
The Storm Runner
By Jennifer Cervantes
To prevent the Mayan gods from battling each other and destroying the world, thirteen-year-old Zane must unravel an ancient prophecy, stop an evil god, and discover how the physical disability that makes him reliant on a cane also connects him to his father and his ancestry.
7th Grade
Miles Morales, Spider-Man
by Jason Reynolds
Brooklyn Visions Academy student Miles Morales may not always want to be a super hero, but he must come to terms with his identity--and deal with a villainous teacher--as the new Spider Man.2022-23 reading lists will be posted at a later date.
Piecing Me Together
by Reneé Watson
Tired of being singled out at her mostly-white private school as someone who needs support, high school junior Jade would rather participate in the school's amazing Study Abroad program than join Women to Women, a mentorship program for at-risk girls.
The Parker Inheritance
by Varian Johnson
Twelve-year-old Candice Miller, with the help of her new friend and fellow book-worm, Brandon, sets out to find her grandmother's inheritance, clear her family's name, and expose an injustice once committed against an African American family in Lambert.
Sal and Gabi Break the Universe
by Carlos Hernandez
In order to heal after his mother's death, thirteen-year-old Sal learns to reach into time and space to retrieve things--and people--from other universes.
Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World
by Ashley Herring Blake
Twelve-year-old Ivy Aberdeen's house is destroyed in a tornado, and in the aftermath of the storm, she begins to develop feelings for another girl at school.
The House of the Scorpion
by Nancy Farmer
In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patron, the one hundred forty-two-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States.
Moxie
by Jennifer Mathieu
In a small Texas town where high school football reigns supreme, Viv, sixteen, starts a feminist revolution using anonymously-written zines.
Listen, Slowly
by Thanhhà Lại
Mai is taking a much unwanted summer trip to Vietnam with her family to learn more about her roots. But as time goes on, Mai grows closer to her family and she begins to understand her culture.
Skink: No Surrender
by Carl Hiaasen
With the help of an eccentric ex-governor, a teenaged boy searches for his missing cousin in the Florida wilds.
Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie
by Jordan Sonnenbleck
Steven tries to deal with his complicated emotions when his brother is diagnosed with leukemia, and struggles with his school life and his desire to support his family.
8th Grade
The Poet X
by Elizabeth Acevedo
Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood and she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.
Darius the Great is Not Okay
by Adib Khorram
Clinically-depressed Darius Kellner, a high school sophomore, travels to Iran to meet his grandparents, but it is their next-door neighbor, Sohrab, who changes his life.
I'll Give You the Sun
by Jandy Nelson
A story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal told from different points in time, and in separate voices, by artist Jude and her twin brother Noah.
Scythe
by Neal Shusterman
In a world where disease has been eliminated, the only way to die is to be randomly killed ('gleaned') by professional reapers ('scythes'). Two teens must compete with each other to become a scythe--a position neither of them wants.
If I Ever Get Out of Here
by Eric Gansworth
Lewis "Shoe" Blake from the Tuscarora Reservation has a new friend from the local Air Force base, but in 1975 upstate New York there is a lot of tension between Native Americans and Whites--and Lewis is not sure that he can rely on friendship.
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood
by Trevor Noah
Trevor Noah's unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. This is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist.
The House in the Cerulean Sea
by T.J. Klune
Lonely Linus Baker, a caseworker for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, is sent by the Extremely Upper Management to an orphanage on a faraway island to find out if the six children there are actually so dangerously magical they could bring about the apocalypse.
The Illustrated Man
by Ray Bradbury
The Illustrated Man is made up of 18 science fiction stories, a kaleidoscopic blending of magic, imagination, and truth—as exhilarating as interplanetary travel, as maddening as a walk in a million-year rain, and as comforting as simple, familiar rituals on the last night of the world.
Soldier X
by Don L. Wulffson
In 1943 sixteen-year-old Erik experiences the horrors of war when he is drafted into the German army and sent to fight on the Russian front.
How It Went Down
by Kekla Magoon
When sixteen-year-old Tariq Johnson is shot to death, his community is thrown into an uproar because Tariq was black and the shooter, Jack Franklin, is white, and in the aftermath everyone has something to say, but no two accounts of the events agree.
What is the Battle of the Books?
Do I have to do Battle of the Books?
How many people do I have to have on my team?
Do all my teammates have to be from the same class?
When do I have to have my team together?
How many books do I have to read?
How do I prepare?
You’ll have to do much of your reading at home. You may be able to do some reading in class during independent reading, quiet time, or during library checkout time. Your teacher or librarian may offer time for your team to meet and check in with each other.
At these meetings or at home, you can prepare by: memorizing the titles and authors on the list, writing down key facts from the book (main characters, plot, problem, solution, etc.), sharing information about the books you read with your teammates.
What do I get or win for doing Battle of the Books?
When are the Battle of the Books competitions?
What is Battle of the Books?
Battle of the Books is a reading program for grades 4-8. Students read from a list of high-quality, librarian-selected books over the course of several months. At the end of the program, teams of students compete to answer questions about the books. It is a fun and rewarding celebration of reading!
Spanish Battle of the Books
Join the Spanish Battle of the Books competition! Students can challenge their reading skills, compete, and have fun with great books in Spanish.