Heartwarming Stories from FVMS Battle of the Books 2020-2021
Explore a collection of heartwarming stories from FVMS Battle of the Books 2020-2021. Follow Kek as he navigates a new life in America, witness Callum's journey into the Magisterium, join Marcus Vega on a quest to find his father in Puerto Rico, and unravel mysteries with Emily in San Francisco. These captivating tales delve into themes of family, identity, friendship, and resilience, offering readers a diverse and enriching literary experience.
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FVMS Battle of the Books 2020-2021
Home of the Brave Katherine Applegate Kek comes from Africa. In America he sees snow for the first time, and feels its sting. He's never walked on ice, and he falls. He wonders if the people in this new place will be like the winter cold and unkind. In Africa, Kek lived with his mother, father, and brother. But only he and his mother have survived, and now she's missing. Kek is on his own. Slowly, he makes friends: a girl who is in foster care; an old woman who owns a rundown farm, and a cow whose name means "family" in Kek's native language. As Kek awaits word of his mother's fate, he weathers the tough Minnesota winter by finding warmth in his new friendships, strength in his memories, and belief in his new country. *Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrzuaf70rV0
The Iron Trial Holly Black & Cassandra Clare Most kids would do anything to pass the Iron Trial. Not Callum Hunt. He wants to fail. All his life, Call has been warned by his father to stay away from magic. If he succeeds at the Iron Trial and is admitted into the Magisterium, he is sure it can only mean bad things for him. So he tries his best to do his worst - and fails at failing. Now the Magisterium awaits him. It's a place that's both sensational and sinister, with dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future. The Iron Trial is just the beginning, for the biggest test is still to come . . . Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqEAdxHPxtM
Marcus Vega Doesnt Speak Spanish Pablo Cartaya Marcus Vega is six feet tall, 180 pounds, and the owner of a premature mustache. When you look like this and you're only in the eighth grade, you're both a threat and a target. Marcus knows what classmates and teachers see when they look at him: a monster. But appearances are deceiving. At home, Marcus is a devoted brother. And he finds ways to earn cash to contribute to his family s rainy day fund. His mom works long hours and his dad walked out ten years ago someone has to pick up the slack. After a fight at school leaves him facing suspension, Marcus and his family decide to hit the reset button and regroup for a week in Puerto Rico. Marcus is more interested in finding his father, though, who is somewhere on the island. Through a series of misadventures that take Marcus all over Puerto Rico in search of the elusive Mr. Vega, Marcus meets a colorful cast of characters who show him the many faces of fatherhood. And he even learns a bit of Spanish along the way. Marcus Vega Doesn t Speak Spanish is a novel about discovering home and identity in uncharted landscapes. Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEw8JB6UzOk Author Pronunciation: https://www.teachingbooks.net/pronounce.cgi?aid=29870
Book Scavenger Jennifer Chambliss Bertman Twelve-year-old Emily is on the move again. Her family is relocating to San Francisco, home of her literary idol: Garrison Griswold, creator of the online sensation Book Scavenger, a game where books are hidden all over the country and clues to find them are revealed through puzzles. But Emily soon learns that Griswold has been attacked and is in a coma, and no one knows anything about the epic new game he had been poised to launch. Then Emily and her new friend James discover an odd book, which they come to believe is from Griswold and leads to a valuable prize. But there are others on the hunt for this book, and Emily and James must race to solve the puzzles Griswold left behind before Griswold's attackers make them their next target. Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSLXeuRnFrA
Airman Eoin Colfer In the 1890s Conor and his family live on the sovereign Saltee Islands, off the Irish coast. Conor spends his days studying the science of flight with his tutor and exploring the castle with the king s daughter, Princess Isabella. But the boy s idyllic life changes forever the day he discovers a deadly conspiracy against the king. When Conor tries to intervene, he is branded a traitor and thrown into jail on the prison island of Little Saltee. There, he has to fight for his life, as he and the other prisoners are forced to mine for diamonds in inhumane conditions. There is only one way to escape Little Saltee, and that is to fly. So Conor passes the solitary months by scratching drawings of flying machines on the prison walls. The months turn into years; but eventually the day comes when Conor must find the courage to trust his revolutionary designs and take to the air. Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSdDYjhuywQ Author Pronunciation: https://www.teachingbooks.net/pronounce.cgi?aid=498
New Kid Jerry Craft Seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan is one of the few kids of color in his entire grade. As he makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartment to the upscale Riverdale Academy Day School, Jordan soon finds himself torn between two worlds and not really fitting into either one. Can Jordan learn to navigate his new school culture while keeping his neighborhood friends and staying true to himself? Book Trailer: https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p =shelf+stuff+new+kid+bok+trailer#id=2&vid=4325ede7f1e51e4 76cc760b85a3ec70f&action=click
Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 Richard Paul Evans To everyone at Meridian High School, Michael Vey is an ordinary fourteen-year-old. In fact, the only thing that seems to set him apart is the fact that he has Tourette s syndrome. But Michael is anything but ordinary. Michael has special powers. Electric powers. Michael thinks he's unique until he discovers that a cheerleader named Taylor also has special powers. With the help of Michael s friend, Ostin, the three of them set out to discover how Michael and Taylor ended up this way, but their investigation brings them to the attention of a powerful group who wants to control the electric children and through them the world. Michael will have to rely on his wits, powers, and friends if he s to survive. Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFz0c33VpxU
90 Miles to Havana Enrique Flores-Galbis When Julian's parents make the heartbreaking decision to send him and his two brothers away from Cuba to Miami via the Pedro Pan operation, the boys are thrust into a new world where bullies run rampant and it's not always clear how best to protect themselves. Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozty5FRtpZ s Author Pronunciation: https://www.teachingbooks.net/pronounce.cgi ?aid=8730
Prisoner B-3087 Alan Gratz Survive. At any cost. 10 concentration camps. 10 different places where you are starved, tortured, and worked mercilessly. It's something no one could imagine surviving. But it is what Yanek Gruener has to face. As a Jewish boy in 1930s Poland, Yanek is at the mercy of the Nazis who have taken over. Everything he has, and everyone he loves, have been snatched brutally from him. And then Yanek himself is taken prisoner -- his arm tattooed with the words PRISONER B-3087. He is forced from one nightmarish concentration camp to another, as World War II rages all around him. He encounters evil he could have never imagined, but also sees surprising glimpses of hope amid the horror. He just barely escapes death, only to confront it again seconds later. Can Yanek make it through the terror without losing his hope, his will -- and, most of all, his sense of who he really is inside? Based on an astonishing true story. Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrWFfOKuvgI
Fatal Fever Gail Jarrow In March 1907, the lives of three remarkable people collided at a New York City brownstone where Mary Mallon worked as a cook. They were brought together by typhoid fever, a dreaded scourge that killed tens of thousands of Americans each year. Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary is the first middle-grade trade book that tells the true story of the woman who unwittingly spread deadly bacteria, the epidemiologist who discovered her trail of infection, and the health department that decided her fate. This gripping story follows this tragic disease as it shatters lives from the early twentieth century to today. It will keep readers on the edges of the seats wondering what happened to Mary and the innocent typhoid victims. Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHv6F43x1oo
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky Kwame Mbalia Seventh-grader Tristan Strong feels anything but strong ever since he failed to save his best friend when they were in a bus accident together. All he has left of Eddie is the journal his friend wrote stories in. Tristan is dreading the month he s going to spend on his grandparents farm in Alabama, where he s being sent to heal from the tragedy. But on his first night there, a sticky creature shows up in his bedroom and steals Eddie s journal. Tristan chases after it is that a doll? and a tug-of-war ensues between them underneath a Bottle Tree. In a last attempt to wrestle the journal out of the creature s hands, Tristan punches the tree, accidentally ripping open a chasm into the MidPass, a volatile place with a burning sea, haunted bone ships, and iron monsters that are hunting the inhabitants of this world. Tristan finds himself in the middle of a battle that has left black American gods John Henry and Brer Rabbit exhausted. In order to get back home, Tristan and these new allies will need to entice the god Anansi, the Weaver, to come out of hiding and seal the hole in the sky. But bartering with the trickster Anansi always comes at a price. Can Tristan save this world before he loses more of the things he loves? Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSS2kkXsaZ8&feature=youtu.be&disable_pol ymer=true
Nyxia Scott Reintgen With millions of dollars at stake, walking away isn t an option. Emmett Atwater agrees to leave Earth behind when Babel Communications offers him a fortune. The catch? He has to launch into deep space to get it. One of ten selected recruits, Emmett boards the company s spaceship and sets course for a planet that Babel has kept hidden from the rest of the world. Before long, Emmett discovers that all of Babel s recruits have at least one thing in common: they re broken. Broken enough that Babel can remold them however it pleases. Every training session is a ruthless competition where friendships are tested and enemies are made. Each recruit must earn the right to travel down to the planet of Eden where they will mine nyxia, a substance that has quietly become the most valuable material in the universe. But Babel s ship is full of secrets. Secrets about the volatile substance they re hoping to mine, about the reclusive humanoids already living on Eden, and about the true intentions for the recruits. Emmett will face the ultimate choice: win the fortune at any cost, or find a way to fight that won t forever compromise what it means to be human. Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGkw2QGr0w0
Look Both Ways Jason Reynolds From National Book Award finalist and #1 New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds comes a novel told in ten blocks, showing all the different directions kids walks home can take. This story was going to begin like all the best stories. With a school bus falling from the sky. But no one saw it happen. They were all too busy Talking about boogers. Stealing pocket change. Skateboarding. Wiping out. Braving up. Executing complicated handshakes. Planning an escape. Making jokes. Lotioning up. Finding comfort. But mostly, too busy walking home. Jason Reynolds conjures ten tales (one per block) about what happens after the dismissal bell rings, and brilliantly weaves them into one wickedly funny, piercingly poignant look at the detours we face on the walk home, and in life. Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/7WNJq-bAuMk https://youtu.be/5pqD5Mo3EIg
The Hired Girl Laura Amy Schlitz Fourteen-year-old Joan Skraggs, just like the heroines in her beloved novels, yearns for real life and true love. But what hope is there for adventure, beauty, or art on a hardscrabble farm in Pennsylvania where the work never ends? Over the summer of 1911, Joan pours her heart out into her diary as she seeks a new, better life for herself because maybe, just maybe, a hired girl cleaning and cooking for six dollars a week can become what a farm girl could only dream of a woman with a future. Inspired by her grandmother s journal, Newbery Medalist Laura Amy Schlitz brings her sharp wit and keen eye to early twentieth-century America in a comedic tour de force destined to become a modern classic. Joan s journey from the muck of the chicken coop to the comforts of a society household in Baltimore (Electricity! Carpet sweepers! Sending out the laundry!) takes its reader on an exploration of feminism and housework, religion and literature, love and loyalty, cats, hats, bunions, and burns. Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2AbHL2r-7w
Bluefish Pat Schmatz Travis is missing his old home in the country, and he s missing his old hound, Rosco. Now there s just the cramped place he shares with his alcoholic grandpa, a new school, and the dreaded routine of school. But that s before Travis meets Mr. McQueen, who doesn t take "pass" for an answer a rare teacher whose savvy persistence has Travis slowly unlocking a book on the natural world. And it s before Travis is noticed by Velveeta, a girl whose wry banter and colorful scarves belie some hard secrets of her own. With sympathy, humor, and disarming honesty, Pat Schmatz brings to life a cast of utterly believable characters and captures the moments of trust and connection that make all the difference. Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4NDFtUBUUM Author Pronunciation: https://www.teachingbooks.net/pronounce.cgi?aid=6165
Death on the River of Doubt Samantha Seiple The action-packed true story of President Theodore Roosevelt's dangerous adventure down one of the most treacherous rivers on Earth. "I did have a murderous trip down South, but it was mighty interesting." In October 1913, Theodore Roosevelt arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on a tour of South America. The thrill-seeking adventurer had no idea that he would soon receive an offer he couldn't refuse: the chance to lead an expedition deep into the Amazon jungle to chart an unmapped river with his son Kermit and renowned Brazilian explorer Candido Mariano da Silva Rondon. Death on the River of Doubt takes readers inside the thrilling journey that unfolds as Roosevelt, Rondon, Kermit, and their companions navigate an unpredictable river through an unforgiving jungle. With new threats at every turn, from bloodthirsty piranhas and raging rapids to starvation, disease, and a traitor in their own ranks, it seems that not everyone will make it out alive. Through it all, the indomitable Teddy Roosevelt remained determined to complete their mission and rewrite the map of the world. Or die trying. Book Trailer: https://www.pbs.org/video/amazon-theodore-roosevelt-urhdgc/
Salt to the Sea Ruta Sepetys Winter, 1945. Four teenagers. Four secrets. Each one born of a different homeland; each one hunted, and haunted, by tragedy, lies and war. As thousands of desperate refugees flock to the coast in the midst of a Soviet advance, four paths converge, vying for passage aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff, a ship that promises safety and freedom. Yet not all promises can be kept. Inspired by the single greatest tragedy in maritime history, bestselling and award-winning author Ruta Sepetys (Between Shades of Gray) lifts the veil on a shockingly little-known casualty of World War II. An illuminating and life-affirming tale of heart and hope. Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rswhDmkPseA Author Pronunciation: https://www.teachingbooks.net/pronounce.cgi?aid=15347
Outcasts United** Warren St. John For readers who followed Enrique's Journey, Outcasts United is another equally moving account of refugees finding a new life in the U.S. Based on the adult bestseller, Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference, this young people's edition is a complex and inspirational story about the Fugees, a youth soccer team made up of diverse refugees from around the world, and their formidable female coach, Luma Mufleh. Clarkston, Georgia, was a typical southern town until it became a refugee resettlement center. The author explores how the community changed with the influx of refugees and how the dedication of Lumah Mufleh and the entire Fugees soccer team inspired an entire community. Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHmkcIE8mao
Other Words for Home Jasmine Warga Jude never thought she d be leaving her beloved older brother and father behind, all the way across the ocean in Syria. But when things in her hometown start becoming volatile, Jude and her mother are sent to live in Cincinnati with relatives. At first, everything in America seems too fast and too loud. The American movies that Jude has always loved haven t quite prepared her for starting school in the US and her new label of Middle Eastern, an identity she s never known before. But this life also brings unexpected surprises there are new friends, a whole new family, and a school musical that Jude might just try out for. Maybe America, too, is a place where Jude can be seen as she really is. Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpeaxDbpeRY
Genesis Begins Again Alicia D. Williams This novel tells the story of a thirteen-year-old who is filled with self-loathing and must overcome internalized racism and a verbally abusive family to finally learn to love herself. There are ninety-six things Genesis hates about herself. She knows the exact number because she keeps a list. Like #95: Because her skin is so dark, people call her charcoal and eggplant even her own family. And #61: Because her family is always being put out of their house, belongings laid out on the sidewalk for the world to see. When your dad is a gambling addict and loses the rent money every month, eviction is a regular occurrence. What s not so regular is that this time they all don t have a place to crash, so Genesis and her mom have to stay with her grandma. It s not that Genesis doesn t like her grandma, but she and Mom always fight Grandma haranguing Mom to leave Dad, that she should have gone back to school, that if she d married a lighter skinned man none of this would be happening, and on and on and on. But things aren t all bad. Genesis actually likes her new school; she s made a couple friends, her choir teacher says she has real talent, and she even encourages Genesis to join the talent show. But how can Genesis believe anything her teacher says when her dad tells her the exact opposite? How can she stand up in front of all those people with her dark, dark skin knowing even her own family thinks lesser of her because of it? Why, why, why won t the lemon or yogurt or fancy creams lighten her skin like they re supposed to? And when Genesis reaches #100 on the list of things she hates about herself, will she continue on, or can she find the strength to begin again? Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DToRnHkz5Vs
The Watch That Ends the Night Allan Wolf Arrogance and innocence, hubris and hope--twenty-four haunting voices of the Titanic tragedy, as well as the iceberg itself, are evoked in a stunning tour de force. Millionaire John Jacob Astor hopes to bring home his pregnant teen bride with a minimum of media scandal. A beautiful Lebanese refugee, on her way to family in Florida, discovers the first stirrings of love. And an ancient iceberg glides south, anticipating its fateful encounter. The voices in this remarkable re-creation of the Titanic disaster span classes and stations, from Margaret ("the unsinkable Molly") Brown to the captain who went down with his ship; from the lookout and wireless men to a young boy in search of dragons and a gambler in search of marks. Slipping in telegraphs, undertaker s reports, and other records, poet Allan Wolf offers a breathtaking, intimate glimpse at the lives behind the tragedy, told with clear-eyed compassion and astounding emotional power. Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftVq50GZn6E
Wolf Hollow Lauren Wolk Growing up in the shadows cast by two world wars, Annabelle has lived a mostly quiet, steady life in her small Pennsylvania town. Until the day new student Betty Glengarry walks into her class. Betty quickly reveals herself to be cruel and manipulative, and while her bullying seems isolated at first, things quickly escalate, and reclusive World War I veteran Toby becomes a target of her attacks. While others have always seen Toby s strangeness, Annabelle knows only kindness. She will soon need to find the courage to stand as a lone voice of justice as tensions mount. Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgvq9Pa1WPQ
