Vote for 2024 Battle of the Books Titles....March Madness Style!
Voting for round one is now closed. Tune in on Wednesday, March 27th, to take part in Round Two!
Welcome to the ACLD Battle of the Books—March Madness edition! For the 2024 voting period, staff has selected 16 popular YA titles to be voted on by you, bracket by bracket, eliminating half each week until we get to our winners.
Here’s how it works: The 16 books have originally been placed into eight pairs, as seen in the image above. Now that Round One has ended, those 8 pairs have been halved into 4. Vote for your preferred title for each pair (you can also submit your vote without voting for everything). After the second round of voting ends, the 8 titles will be reduced to 4 titles, and Round 3 begins. Rinse and repeat until we have our two winners!
Vote every time! If you have a favorite and you miss voting, it could easily be eliminated from consideration.
The timeline goes:
March 20-25: Open voting to reduce 16 titles to 8COMPLETED- March 27-April 1: Open voting to reduce 8 titles to 4
- April 3-8: Open voting on the final two pairs to choose two of the titles we will be reading this summer!
Voting will be done through this form.
You, the voter, will choose two of the three titles for this summer’s competition. We will announce our Wild Card pick (chosen by staff) to be the third title read at a later date. As a reminder, teens in Alachua County can sign up to be part of a team in this summer’s ultimate literary trivia competition. Everyone who enters will receive a free copy of the three books to keep.
The books under consideration, their summaries, and their link to our library catalog are all listed below. For any questions, please contact us at ysref@aclib.us.
Thank you again!
Book Titles and Summaries--Round Two
Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam by Thien Pham
Graphic novel; Autobiography
Told through the lens of meaningful food and meals, this graphic novel chronicles the author's childhood immigration to America where food takes on new meaning as he and his family search for belonging, happiness, and the American dream.
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
Historical Fiction
In a country governed by isolation, fear, and a tyrannical dictator, 17-year-old Cristian Florescu is blackmailed by the secret police to become an informer. He decides to use his position to try to outwit his handler, undermine the regime, give voice to fellow Romanians, and expose to the world what is happening in his country.
What I Carry by Jennifer Longo
Contemporary Romance
Growing up in foster care, Muir has lived in many houses. And if she's learned one thing, it is to Pack. Light. Carry only what fits in a suitcase. Toothbrush? Yes. Socks? Yes. Emotional attachment to friends? Foster families? A boyfriend? Nope! There's no room for any additional baggage.
Muir has just one year left before she ages out of the system. One year before she's free. One year to avoid anything—or anyone—that could get in her way. Then she meets Francine. And Kira. And Sean. And everything changes.
Graphic novel; Humor
Fantasy
Books that were outvoted but are still amazing reads
Ordinary Hazards by Nikki Grimes
Book-in-verse; Memoir
Growing up with a mother suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and a mostly absent father, Nikki Grimes found herself terrorized by babysitters, shunted from foster family to foster family, and preyed upon by those she trusted. At six years old, she poured her pain onto a piece of paper late one night—and discovered the magic and impact of writing. For many years, Nikki's notebooks were her most enduring companions. In this accessible and inspiring memoir that will resonate with young readers and adults alike, Nikki shows how the power of those words helped her conquer the hazards—ordinary and extraordinary—of her life.
Victory Stand!: Raising My Fist For Justice by Tommie Smith
Graphic novel; Sports memoir
On October 16, 1968, during the medal ceremony at the Mexico City Olympics, Tommie Smith, the gold medal winner in the 200-meter sprint, and John Carlos, the bronze medal winner, stood on the podium in black socks and raised their black-gloved fists to protest racial injustice inflicted upon African Americans. Both men were forced to leave the Olympics, received death threats, and faced ostracism and continuing economic hardships. In his first-ever memoir for young readers, Tommie Smith looks back on his childhood growing up in rural Texas through to his stellar athletic career, culminating in his historic victory and Olympic podium protest.
Contemporary
Congratulations to Last Year's Winners
WINNERS
Congratulations to our winners of the 2023 Battle of the Books trivia competition!
1st Place: Waldo Branch
2nd Place: Millhopper Branch
3rd Place: Alachua Branch
Alachua County teen participants were given free copies of selected books to read over the summer to prepare to flex their trivia skills at the annual Battle of the Books. The competition took place July 23 at 2 p.m. on Zoom.
Alachua County teens selected the following books for 2023:
- The Seventh Raven by David Elliott
- Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust
Thank you to our Battle of the Books sponsor, RTI Surgical, for their generous donation that funded this program.
Hall of Fame
Previous Winning Teams
- (2010) Tower Road Branch
- (2011) Millhopper Branch
- (2012) Headquarters Library
- (2013) Tower Road Branch
- (2014) Tower Road Branch
- (2015) High Springs Branch
- (2016) High Springs Branch
- (2017) Headquarters Library tied with Newberry Branch
- (2018) Headquarters Library tied with Tower Road Branch
- (2019) Headquarters Library
- (2020) Tower Road Branch
- (2021) Millhopper Branch
- (2022) Millhopper Branch
- (2023) Waldo Branch
- (2024) We'll find out this summer!