The following article was submitted by Manitowoc Public Library Associate Carrie Pearson.
The Manitowoc-Calumet Library System “Battle of the Books” will be happening this summer and Manitowoc Public Library is excited to return to the competition after winning last year for the 7th year in a row!
So, what is Battle of the Books? It’s a MCLS book trivia competition. Each of the six libraries in our system gathers a team of Tweens and Teens, ages 11-18, who test their knowledge of a list of books they read throughout the summer. This year we have eight highly-praised contemporary books in a variety of genres for Teens to choose from. Teens DO NOT have to read all the books! They can, however, read as many books as fit into their lives, even if it’s just one. Any knowledge is useful to a team.
There will be one big change to the competition this year—it will be hosted on the online quiz platform, Kahoot! We learned a lot of lessons last year after our first virtual competition—namely lessons of technical difficulties and time lags over internet connections. To make the competition fairer, each teen participant will now be able to log into the competition and answer questions individually on a smart device. As in years past, the quickest answer wins! But another change Kahoot brings is that the questions will all be multiple choice or True/False! This new format will really make it any team’s year to win the tournament!
Manitowoc Public Library values accessibility to all patrons’ comfort levels. With this in mind, our team will have a hybrid model of virtual and in-person practices. Teens can choose what works best for
their lives and schedules—coming to the library in-person for practices or joining-in virtually using Google Meet. Not only is the virtual method a great option for those who may not be comfortable gathering in groups yet, but also for Teens with busy schedules who might not be able to make it to the library in-between extracurriculars, work, social schedules, etc. In-person practices will be limited to ten teens in order to meet social distancing standards as well.
The MPL team will also be able to choose when practices will be meeting! After difficulty getting more than half of the team together for pre-scheduled practices, the library came up with the idea to have team members submit their schedules via a Doodle Poll in order to determine what time works best for the majority of team members. We’re extremely hopeful this will help our team build good camaraderie prior to the competition.
One real advantage to the Battle of the Books happening in summer is that all the reading Teens will be doing will count towards the Summer Reading Program, where Teens can enter to win fabulous prizes! This Summer Reading Program has more chances to win than ever before! Even if you read just one day out of the summer, you get one raffle ticket to enter into our grand prize drawings. One of our grand prizes for Teens to enter to win this year is a Nintendo Switch Lite, which is perfect for the brand new video game collection we will be introducing this summer!
Without further ado, I would like to announce the 2021 Battle of the Books Title Choices by genre:
Fantasy/Science Fiction—Burn, by Patrick Ness: set in an alternative history during the 1950s where dragons have evolved alongside humans, this novel follows Sarah and her father after their financial situation forces them to hire a dragon to help on their farm in rural Washington. Little do they know this dragon brings with him a prophecy about the end of the world, a deadly assassin, a cult of dragon-worshippers, and two FBI agents.
Fantasy/Science Fiction—Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, by Kwame Mbalia: Tristan is grieving the loss of a dear friend when a strange creature steals from him in the middle of the night. When he pursues the creature, he accidentally punches a tree, which opens up a portal to another dimension. Tristan finds himself in the middle of a battle fought by heroes from African American folklore and the only way to win is to win the favor of West African gods.
Graphic Novel—The Savage Beard of She-Dwarf, by Kyle Latino: based on the popular webcomic, She Dwarf believes she could be the last dwarf in the world. Hoping to find evidence of more of her kind, she sets out to find the lost great dwarven city. Forced to take on a partner for help on her mission, the pair will fight monsters and hidden dangers before She Dwarf can find the truth about her people.
Historical Fiction—Kent State, by Deborah Wiles: based on the tragic real events of May 4, 1970, when American troops fired on and killed four Kent State University students in Ohio during a protest of the Vietnam War. This verse novel uses multiple points of view to give voice to the horror and chaos of that day. More than 50 years later, there is still disagreement as to what happened and why.
Horror—Rules for Vanishing, by Kate Alice Marshall: once a year, a path appears in the forest and a ghost girl beckons people to play her game. In a faux-documentary style, readers follow Sara a year after her sister disappeared playing the ghost girl’s game. After a mysterious text invites Sara to play the game as well, she’s determined to bring her sister back before she’s lost forever.
Mystery/Suspense—The Inheritance Games, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes: Avery is just trying to get a college scholarship when a random billionaire suddenly dies, leaving her his fortune in his will. The only catch is she has to move into his mansion. Unfortunately, the billionaire’s recently-disinherited family is still in the house and believes she must be a con artist. To solve the mystery, Avery will have to navigate the sprawling estate filled with secret passages, riddles, and codes.
Non-Fiction—Folding Tech: Using Origami & Nature to Evolutionize Technology, by Karen Latchana Kennedy: what do self-assembling robots, space probes, and crash-absorbing cars all have in common? They were all designed based on origami, the ancient art of paper folding! Examine how origami crosses with mathematics to become a tool to solve the most complicated problems in engineering, architecture, technology, and medicine today! The book also includes instructions for scientific origami projects for readers to try at home!
Realistic Fiction—Don’t Read the Comments, by Eric Smith: in the online gaming world, Divya goes by D1V and is a rising star. But, in real life, she’s using her sponsorships to help her mom with rent. Aaron is only interested in gaming, not becoming a doctor like his mother wants, so when he happens to meet celebrity gamer D1V he jumps at the chance to join her crusade. However, when internet trolls begin a campaign against them that crosses into real-life doxxing, the two will have to team up IRL (in real life) to stop them.
All of the books are available as ebooks except for our graphic novel, The Savage Beard of She-Dwarf, which, as a webcomic, is already available for online reading at shedwarf.com. All of the books except for the graphic novel are also available as e-audiobooks as well on Overdrive (for computers) and Libby (for smart devices), which you can access for free with a Manitowoc Public Library physical or virtual library card.
Battle of the Books will be held on Wednesday, September 8, 2021 at 6:30 PM and practices will be held weekly throughout the summer starting with an orientation taking place on Thursday, June 24, at 4 PM. You can sign up for the MPL’s Battle of the Books team on the library website atTwww.manitowoclibrary.org/teens/battle-of-the-books/.
Teen Services hosts summer teen programming every Friday starting June 18. We’re having our Henna Teen Kick-off on June 18 and are partnering with Lakeshore Humane Society to bring teens Cats and Crafts on June 25 to start the summer off! To see the full list of summer fun for Teens visit our website: www.manitowoclibrary.org/srp/. For more Teen Services news, follow the Teen Services Instagram at @mpl.teen (https://www.instagram.com/mpl.teen/).
