What is Battle of the Books?

       A team of seventh and eighth grade students from Fort Plain, Cooperstown., and Dolgeville schools read the same 20 fiction books with a variety of genres represented. A team of high school students from each school do likewise. A moderator asks questions about specific books and the first student to hit the buzzer has a chance to score points for their team. Winning teams received trophies. Spring, 2008 was the first year a high school competition was held.
Battle of the Books Blog     

Three schools compete in annual "Battle"

       The second three-school Battle of the Books was won by Cooperstown Central School.
       The 2010 competition was held at Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute in Utica .  After the battle, students toured the museum. This is the second year Dolgeville joined the annual battle.
         

2009-10 (3rd Annual) Battle of the Books High School Book List

A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini
Two women born a generation apart witness the destruction of their home and family in war torn Kabul, losses incurred over the course of thirty years that test the limits of their strength and courage.

Abarat, Clive Barker
Candy Quackenbush of Chickentown, Minnesota, one day finds herself on the edge of a foreign world that is populated by strange creatures, and her life is forever changed.

All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy
John Grady Cole, 16, leaves Texas for Mexico in 1950 and becomes an essential vaquero in a hacienda's program.

Beastly, Alex Flinn
A modern retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" from the point of view of the Beast, a vain Manhattan private school student who is turned into a monster and must find true love before he can return to his human form.

Eldest, Christopher Paolini
After successfully evading an Urgals ambush, Eragon is adopted into the Ingeitum clan and sent to finish his training so he can further help the Varden in their struggle against the Empire.

Night, Elie Wiesel
An autobiographical narrative, in which the author describes his experiences in Nazi concentration camps.

Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
Wealthy Mr. Darcy and spirited Elizabeth Bennett dislike each other at first sight, and each must contend with their pride and prejudices while Elizabeth's mother plots economically advantageous marriages for all her daughters.

The Book Thief, Marcus Zusak
Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors.

The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon and French cryptologist Sophie Neveu work to solve the murder of an elderly curator of the Louvre, a case which leads to clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci and a centuries-old secret society.

The Glass Castle: a memoir, Jeannette Walls
The child of an alcoholic father and an eccentric artist mother discusses her family's nomadic upbringing, during which she and her siblings fended for themselves while their parents outmaneuvered bill collectors and the authorities.

The Host: a novel, by Stephanie Meyer
A member of a species that takes over the minds of human bodies, Wanderer is unable to disregard his host's love for a man in hiding, a situation that forces both possessor and host to become unwilling allies.

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place.

The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch
The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.

The Princess Bride, William Goldman
Presents the timeless love story between a farm boy named Westley and the beautiful Princess Buttercup.

The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd
After her "stand-in mother," a bold black woman named Rosaleen, insults the three biggest racists in town, Lily Owens joins Rosaleen on a journey to Tiburon, South Carolina, where they are taken in by three black, bee-keeping sisters.

The Truth about Forever, Sarah Dessen
The summer following her father's death, Macy plans to work at the library and wait for her brainy boyfriend to return from camp, but instead she goes to work at a catering business where she makes new friends and finally faces her grief.
 

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 2009-10 (7th annual) Battle of the Books Middle School Book List

Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle's dangerous work for Britain's intelligence agency, MI6.

Redwall, Brian Jacques
When the peaceful life of ancient Redwall Abbey is shattered by the arrival of the evil rat Cluny and his villainous hordes, Matthias, a young mouse, determines to find the legendary sword of Martin the Warrior which, he is convinced, will help Redwall's inhabitants destroy the enemy.

Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
Chronicles the joys and sorrows of the four March sisters as they grow into young women in nineteenth-century New England.

Double Identity, Margaret Peterson Haddix
Thirteen-year-old Bethany's parents have always been overprotective, but when they suddenly drop out of sight with no explanation, leaving her with an aunt she never knew existed, Bethany uncovers shocking secrets that make her question everything she thought she knew about herself and her family.

Baseball Great, Tim Green
All twelve-year-old Josh wants to do is play baseball but when his father, a minor league pitcher, signs him up for a youth championship team, Josh finds himself embroiled in a situation with potentially illegal consequences.

Petey, Ben Mikaelsen
In 1922 Petey, who has cerebral palsy, is misdiagnosed as mentally retarded and institutionalized; sixty-eight years later, still in the institution, he befriends a boy and shares with him the joy of life.

Each Little Bird that Sings, Deborah Wiles
Comfort Snowberger is well acquainted with death since her family runs the funeral parlor in their small southern town, but even so the ten-year-old is unprepared for the series of heart-wrenching events that begins on the first day of Easter vacation with the sudden death of her beloved great-uncle Edisto.

The Maze of Bones (39 clues series), Rick Riordan
Dan and Amy Cahill are given the choice of receiving a million dollars or uncovering the thirty-nine clues hidden around the world that will lead to the source of the family's power, but by taking on the clues, they end up in a dangerous race against their own family.

Into the Wild, Erin Hunter
For generations, four clans of wild cats have shared the forest. When their warrior code is threatened by mysterious deaths, a house cat named Rusty may turn out to be the bravest warrior of all.

Peak, Roland Smith
A fourteen-year-old boy attempts to be the youngest person to reach the top of Mount Everest.

Savvy, Ingrid Law
Recounts the adventures of Mibs Beaumont, whose thirteenth birthday has revealed her "savvy"--a magical power unique to each member of her family--just as her father is injured in a terrible accident.

Crispin: The Cross of Lead, Avi
Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant boy in fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret.

Princess Ben: being a wholly truthful account of her various discoveries and misadventures, recounted to the best of her recollection, in four parts, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
A girl is transformed, through instruction in life at court, determination, and magic, from sullen, pudgy, graceless Ben into Crown Princess Benevolence, a fit ruler of the kindgom of Montagne as it faces war with neighboring Drachensbett.

Peeled, Joan Bauer
In an upstate New York farming community, high school reporter Hildy Biddle investigates a series of strange occurrences at a house rumored to be haunted.

The Riddles of Epsilon, Christine Morton-Shaw
After moving with her parents to a remote English island, fourteen-year-old Jess attempts to dispel an ancient curse by solving a series of riddles, aided by Epsilon, a supernatural being.

Half Moon Investigations, Eoin Colfer
When Fletcher Moon, the youngest detective in the world, is framed for a crime he did not commit, he must team up with the unlikeliest of allies, run from the authorities, and solve the case within twelve hours to clear his name.

The Boy Who Dared, Susan Campbell Bartoletti
In October, 1942, seventeen-year-old Helmuth Hubener, imprisoned for distributing anti-Nazi leaflets, recalls his past life and how he came to dedicate himself to bring the truth about Hitler and the war to the German people.

The Giver, Lois Lowry
Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.

American Born Chinese, Gene Yang
Alternates three interrelated stories about the problems of young Chinese Americans trying to participate in the popular culture. Presented in comic book format.

No More Dead Dogs, Gordon Korman
Eighth-grade football hero Wallace Wallace is sentenced to detention attending rehearsals of the school play where, in spite of himself, he becomes wrapped up in the production and begins to suggest changes that improve not only the play but his life as well.
 

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