'23-'24 Battle of the Books: Book Titles and Authors

Legendborn: A black teenage girl discovers a secret and historically white magic society.

Murder Among Friends: Two privileged teenagers set out to execute the perfect crime in May 1924; they hatched their plot, ending up kidnapping and killing 14-year-old Bobby Franks, just for the thrill of it.

A Snake Falls to Earth: The novel follows two protagonists: Oli, a cottonmouth shapeshifter from the Reflecting World, a place of magical monsters and spirits that is intimately tied to Earth, and Nina, a Lipan Apache girl living in Texas whose family has a nearly forgotten connection to the Reflecting World.

The Summer I Turned Pretty: A coming-of-age story about love, friendship, and growing up; Belly is struggling to figure out who she is and what she wants along with the complicated relationships she has with Conrad and Jeremiah.

Dread Nation: The book follows Jane McKeene’s journey through a hostile world; it explores the deep-seated racism, sexism, and classism of 19th-century America through issues such as propaganda, eugenics, and slavery.

The Weight of Blood: This horror novel follows a biracial teenager as her Georgia high school hosts its first integrated prom.

Hey, Kiddo: The graphic memoir tells the story of the author’s childhood living with his grandparents while his mother lived with a substance use disorder.

Six Crimson Cranes: Shiori searches for her brothers and uncovers a dark conspiracy to seize the throne. Only Shiori can set the kingdom to rights, but to do so she must place her trust in a paper bird, a mercurial dragon, and the very boy she fought so hard not to marry.

A Very Large Expanse of Sea: The book tells the story of a teenage Muslim American girl dealing with racism and Islamophobia in the wake of 9/11.

Slay: By day, Kiera Johnson is an honors student, a math tutor, and one of the only Black kids at Jefferson Academy. But at home, she joins hundreds of thousands of Black gamers who duel worldwide as Nubian personas in the secret multiplayer online role-playing card game, SLAY.

Born a Crime: This autobiographical comedy book focuses on the author’s childhood growing up in South Africa after he was born of an illegal interracial relationship during the apartheid era.

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter: Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was her sister Olga's role. Then a tragic accident leaves Olga dead and Julia reassembling the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too.

Scythe: Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe - a role that neither wants. These teens must master the "art" of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own

Odd One Out: Three teens in a complex love triangle navigate a fine line between friendship and romantic love. High-school junior Courtney (“Coop”) can't deny his physical attraction to his neighbor and female best friend, Jupiter, whom he's loved for years.

All My Rage: A love story, a tragedy and an infectious teenage fever dream about what home means when you feel you don't fit in. Noor, who was born in Pakistan but emigrated as a child after her family was killed in a tragic accident, yearns for a culture that she never got a chance to fully know.

Project Hail Mary: a 2021 science fiction novel by American novelist Andy Weir. Set in the near future, it centers on junior high (middle) school-teacher-turned-astronaut Ryland Grace, who wakes up from a coma afflicted with amnesia. He gradually remembers that he was sent to the Tau Ceti solar system, 12 light-years from Earth, to find a means of reversing a solar dimming event that could cause the extinction of humanity.