Battle of the Books 2022

Recent immigrants from China and desperate for work and money, ten-year-old Mia Tang's parents take a job managing a rundown motel in Southern California, even though the owner, Mr. Yao is a nasty skinflint who exploits them; while her mother (who was an engineer in China) does the cleaning, Mia works the front desk and tries to cope with demanding customers and other recent immigrants--not to mention being only one of two Chinese in her fifth grade...

When her father is lost at sea shortly after meeting a very unusual visitor, Alice must go live with Uncle Geryon, a mysterious old man she's never heard of, with an impossibly massive library that holds much more than books.

In Pakistan, Amal holds on to her dream of being a teacher even after becoming an indentured servant to pay off her family's debt to the wealthy and corrupt Khan family.

"Out of the depths of the Great Depression comes the astonishing tale of nine working-class boys from the American West who at the 1936 Olympics showed the world what true grit really meant. With rowers who were the sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the University of Washington's eight-oar crew was never expected to defeat the elite East Coast teams, yet they did, going on to shock the world by challenging the German boat rowing for...

A graphic novel memoir of author/illustrator Cece Bell who grew up hearing impaired.

Inside Out and Back Again meets Millicent Min, Girl Genius in this timely, hopeful middle-grade novel with a contemporary Chinese twist.

Winner of the Asian / Pacific American Award for Children's Literature!* "Many readers will recognize themselves or their neighbors in these pages." — Kirkus Reviews, starred reviewMia Tang has a lot of secrets.Number 1: She lives in a motel, not a big house. Every day,...

Publisher Annotation: Regan Fitz and Elliot Mason are training to become Glitchers, or time travelers who prevent others from altering important historical events. They've always been enemies-but everything changes when they find a letter from the future that warns of a devastating event to come. Suddenly forced to work together, Regan and Elliot must get over their animosity fast, because to save everyone they know, they'll need to break every rule...

"The true story of an all-American girl and a boy from Zimbabwe and the letter that changed both of their lives forever. It started as an assignment. Everyone in Caitlin's class wrote to an unknown student somewhere in a distant place. Martin was lucky to even receive a pen-pal letter. There were only ten letters, and fifty kids in his class. But he was the top student, so he got the first one. That letter was the beginning of a correspondence that...

Merci Suárez knew that sixth grade would be different, but she had no idea just how different. For starters, Merci has never been like the other kids at her private school in Florida, because she and her older brother, Roli, are scholarship students. They don't have a big house or a fancy boat, and they have to do extra community service to make up for their free tuition. So when bossy Edna Santos sets her sights on the new boy who happens to be...

"Sometimes a story comes along that just plain makes you want to hug the world. The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise is Dan Gemeinhart's finest book yet — and that's saying something. Your heart needs this joyful miracle of a book." —Katherine Applegate, acclaimed author of The One and Only Ivan and Wishtree
A 2020 ILA Teachers' Choice
A 2019 Parents' Choice Award Gold Medal Winner
Winner of the

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