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High School Battle of the Books Reading List
2023-2024 |
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A Snake Falls to Earth
by Darcie Little Badger
Fifteen-year-olds Nina and Oli come from different worlds: she is a Lipan Apache living in Texas and he is a cottonmouth from the Reflecting World, but their lives intersect when Oli journeys to Earth to find a cure for his ailing friend and they end up helping each other save their families.
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Legendborn
by Tracy Deonn
Wanting to escape her previous life after the accidental death of her mother, 16-year-old Bree enrolls in a program for high school students at the local university before her witness to a magical attack reveals her undiscovered powers as well as sinister truths about her mother's death. This series opener introduces a fascinating system of magic and an intriguing mash-up of Round Table lore with contemporary American cultures.
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Scythe
by Neal Shusterman
Most job training isn't life-threatening, but being a Scythe isn't a typical job. It's 2042, and Earth is enjoying a post-mortal period, free of natural or accidental death. To keep the population in check, the Scythes - an organization of professional killers - are tasked with randomly "gleaning" lives. Sixteen-year-olds Citra and Rowan are horrified at the idea of murder, yet both are chosen as apprentice Scythes and forced into a winner-gleans-loser competition.
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Project Hail Mary
by Andy Weir
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission--and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
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The Summer I Turned Pretty
by Jenny Han
Belly measures her life in summers. Ignored by Conrad and Jeremiah one summer after the next - the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer, her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between - Belly is shocked when she returns to the beach house the following season and discovers that everything has changed, for both the better and worse.
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Slay
by Brittney Morris
Hiding her identity as the developer of an elite online role-playing game, seventeen-year-old Kiera Johnson, a talented teen and one of the only Black students in her school, is targeted with violent racism when an in-game dispute escalates into a player's murder. Driven to save the only world in which she can be herself, Kiera must preserve her secret identity, but can she protect her game without losing herself in the process?
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Dread Nation
by Justina Ireland
A disturbing alternate version of post-Civil War America in which the undead prey on the living, and black kids are forced into combat schools where they're trained as the first line of defense. Jane McKeene, who's just about to graduate from combat school, is caught up in a terrifying conspiracy when families around her home Baltimore County begin to go missing. It seems the restless dead are the least of her problems.
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Six Crimson Cranes
by Elizabeth Lim
The exiled Princess Shiori must unravel the curse that turned her six brothers into cranes, and she is assisted by her spurned betrothed, a capricious dragon, and a paper bird brought to life by her own magic.
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A Very Large Expanse of Sea
by Tahereh Mafi
When Shirin (16, loves break-dancing, wears a hijab) starts at a new school the year after 9/11, she's unsurprised by the anti-Muslim hostility she faces. She knows better than to let her guard down - not even for Ocean James, a classmate who seems genuinely into her.
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I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
by Erika L. Sanchez
Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents' house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family. But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga's role. Even after the sudden death of her dutiful, traditional sister Olga, 15-year-old Julia Reyes - all bad attitude and desperation to escape her overbearing immigrant parents - feels like she can never measure up. But then Olga's secrets begin to surface...
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The Weight of Blood
by Tiffany D. Jackson
A reimagining of Stephen King's Carrie inspired by a Georgia school that segregated its prom until 2014. Meet Madison Washington, a light-skinned biracial girl who passes as white until a rainy day reveals her hair's natural texture. The bullying Madison suffers awakens her telekinetic powers. On prom night, revenge will be hers.
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Odd One Out
by Nic Stone
Courtney and Jupiter (Coop & Jupe!) have been next-door neighbors and best friends since they were seven-years-old. She's his partner-in-crime and other half. But lately, Cooper can't ignore he might want something more than friendship from Jupiter. And when Rae moves to town, she can't believe how lucky she is to find Coop and Jupe. Around these two, she finally feels like she belongs. She's so grateful she wants to kiss him...and her. Jupiter has always liked girls, but when Rae starts dating Cooper, Jupe realizes that the only girl she ever really imagined by his side was her. One story. Three sides. No easy answers.
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All My Rage
by Sabaa Tahir
Estranged friends Salahudin and Noor try to find their way back to each other while dealing with family strife, grief, and Islamophobia in their small desert town of Jupiter, California. From #1 New York Times bestselling author Sabaa Tahir comes a brilliant, unforgettable, and heart-wrenching contemporary novel about family and forgiveness, love and loss, in a sweeping story that crosses generations and continents.
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Murder Among Friends: How Leopold and Loeb Tried to Commit the Perfect Crime
by Candace Fleming
What it is: the compelling true crime tale of two young men who plotted the murder of a child in 1924, only to be caught and narrowly escape the death penalty.
Is it for you? This well-researched nonfiction book blends the suspense of a thriller with the drama of courtroom proceedings, all while examining social issues.
Author alert: Fans of gripping historical narratives will also appreciate author Candace Fleming’s The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh and The Family Romanov.
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Hey, Kiddo
by Jarrett Krosoczka
The powerful, unforgettable graphic memoir from Jarrett Krosoczka, about growing up with a drug-addicted mother, a missing father, and two unforgettably opinionated grandparents. A profoundly important memoir about growing up in a family grappling with addiction, and finding the art that helps you survive
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Born a Crime : Stories from a South African Childhood
by Trevor Noah
The comedian traces his coming of age during the twilight of apartheid in South Africa and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed, offering insight into the farcical aspects of the political and social systems of today's world.
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New Hanover County Public Library - Pine Valley
3802 S. College Road
Wilmington, North Carolina 28412
910-798-6391www.nhclibrary.org |
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