Battle of the Books

Battle of the Books is sponsored by the CPES Library. This page is available as a courtesy to the library.

Reading can be fun and a tad competitive!

• Grades 4-6
• Book Clubs begin October 20th; 8:00-8:30 in the library
• Battle will be the week of March 27th
• Watch this video for this year’s books!!!

Please email Ms. Brinkhuis with questions.

Meeting Dates & Books

REVISED 12/8: We are going to take a break for 12/15, so that students have enough time to read Patron Thief of Bread. See the revised schedule, below:

• 12/8 Fly on the Wall
• 1/5 Patron Thief of Bread
• 1/12 Efren Divided
• 1/19 Get a Grip, Vivvy Cohen
• 1/26 The Name of this Book is Secret
• 2/2 The Night Diary
• 2/9 Rescue

2022-2023 Battle of the Books List

5 Worlds / Mark Siegel

Oona Lee is a less than successful sand dancer. She can't always control the creatures, called aniforms, that she creates from sand, and others make fun of her. As the plot unfolds, readers discover that Oona Lee lives in the Five Worlds, a galaxy of five planets populated by various species and races, and unless the five ancient beacons are lit, the worlds may be in danger. When Oona meets up with a poor boy named An Tzu and a famous athlete named Jax Amboy, the three of them realize that they might be able to light the beacons and change the destiny of the Five Worlds.  (Graphic Novel)

Amari and the Night Brothers / B.B. Alston

Quinton Peters has been missing for six months -- no matter what anybody says, his sister Amari knows he's still alive -- and his top-secret job is the reason he's been away. Sure enough, Amari discovers that Quinton has arranged an interview for her to join the same line of work, which turns out to be the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. Plunged into a parallel magical world, Amari must do her best to learn and succeed in this new reality. Her journey becomes more complicated when her aptitude test reveals her to be a Magician, possessing a level of magic deemed dangerous -- and illegal. (Fantasy)

Belly Up / Stuart Gibbs

Twelve-year-old Teddy knows more about animals than any other kid his age thanks to spending the first 10 years of his life living in the African Congo with his gorilla researcher mother and wildlife photographer father. When his parents leave Africa, they accept jobs at Texas’s FunJungle, the largest zoo in the world. Living at FunJungle is cool, but when Henry Hippo, FunJungle’s 4,000-pound mascot, is murdered, Teddy decides to track down the killer. (Action)

Efren Divided / Ernesto Cisneros

Efrén Nava has a tight-knit family—Max and Mia, his younger twin siblings; his hard-working father, Apá; and his mom, Queen of the Best Sopes, Amá (otherwise known as "Soperwoman" in Efrén’s mind), who is the glue that keeps the family together. Efrén is happy with the way his life is going—he's working hard at school, spending time with his best friend David, and visiting his school library. But one day, Efrén’s world comes crashing down when his beloved Amá gets deported. (Realistic Fiction)

Fly on the Wall / Remy Lai

Henry Khoo is tired of being babied by his family and invisible at school. Trying to declare independence from both, he started the infamous "Fly on the Wall" blog, which spreads gossip about his schoolmates, and is currently on his way to the airport for an unauthorized trip from Perth, Australia, (where he lives with his helicoptering mom, sister, and grandmother), to Singapore for a surprise visit to his dad. (Realistic Fiction)

Get a Grip, Vivvy Cohen / Sarah Kapit

Vivy is a girl with a passion for baseball; she wants to be a pitcher more than anything else. Her life changes when a baseball coach scouts her at the park playing with her brother. But Vivy's mother is concerned about her joining the team, mainly because she will be the only child with autism and the only girl. (Realistic Fiction)

The Name of this Book is Secret / Pseudonymous Bosch

The pseudonymous author of this droll mystery insists that he cannot disclose the real names of its characters, or where they really live. The book is about a secret that cannot, under any circumstances, be revealed, so the author gives the story's fictional heroine and hero, two eccentric 11-year-olds, false names (think about that for a moment): Cassandra and Max-Ernest. Cass always expects disaster and carries a backpack filled with survival equipment; Max-Ernest tells jokes that nobody finds funny. They team up after discovering a secret message from a deceased magician in a box of his things delivered to Cass's substitute grandfathers' antiques shop. (Fantasy)

The Night Diary / Veera Hiranandani

After introverted Nisha receives a diary for her 12th birthday, she begins to find her voice as she documents her family’s upheaval amid the 1947 Partition of India. Nisha’s journal entries, which are addressed to her deceased mother, take on new urgency as she witnesses India being “split in half like a log” along religious lines after gaining independence from Britain. As the daughter of a Hindu father and a Muslim mother, Nisha questions which side of the Indian-Pakistani border to call her own. (Historical Fiction)

The Patron Thief of Bread / Lindsay Eagar

 A grumpy stone gargoyle perches high above the medieval town, fretting about the condition of his unfinished cathedral and desperate for a chance to fulfill his promise to protect those seeking sanctuary. As the gargoyle looks on, waxing poetically and hilariously about his woes, the long-abandoned building becomes a haven for the Crowns, a close-knit gang of children who skillfully thieve their way from town to town. Gnat devises a plan to keep them fed: Duck will apprentice to milky-eyed baker Griselde and from this position slip the crew coins and bread.  (Fantasy)

Rescue / Jennifer Nielsen

Meg Kenyon and her British father have always shared a love of deciphering secret codes, so when he is called away from their home on the France-Germany border on a mysterious WWII mission with the Allies, he leaves a jarful of codes for her continued practice. Nearly two years after his departure, 12-year-old Meg and her French mother and grandmother are living under Nazi occupation on Grandmère’s farm. Meg sells their produce on the black market and secretly works with the Resistance, ultimately discovering a way to rescue her father. (Historical Fiction)