Media Advisory – April 6, 2021
Gainesville, Fla. – Teens can vote now to pick the top titles for the annual Battle of the Books, a summer trivia contest that tests participants’ knowledge of several books.
Teens can visit www.aclib.us/battleofthebooks to rank their interest in each book on a scale of 1-5 through April 30. The chosen titles will be announced on May 3 and then teens can register to compete on a Battle of the Books team and receive free copies of the selected books, thanks to generous sponsorship from RTI Surgical Inc., a leading global surgical implant company headquartered in Alachua. Teens ages 11-17 can participate and train for the final competition on Saturday, July 24 on Zoom.
“After voting wraps up, teams will form at local branches and the real magic begins,” said Youth Services Librarian Meaghan Bonnaghan. “Reading and training for the competition is a summer-long event and though things will still be virtual this year, we are sure it is going to be a blast.”
The 15 books on the ballot cover many genres, including fantasy, romance, biography, and fiction. Check out or reserve any of the books at https://tinyurl.com/battletitles.
“It is so hard to narrow the number of books for voting down to 15 but we are so happy with the diverse selection,” Bonnaghan said. “Librarians from across the district contributed their recent favorites and recent award winners to get to our final list. There is a little bit of everything for everyone on it.”
The 2021 titles are:
- “Blood Heir” by Amelie Wen Zhao
- “Cemetery Boys” by Aiden Thomas
- “Children of Blood and Bone” by Tomi Adeyemi
- “Dear Martin” by Nic Stone
- “Felix Ever After” by K. Callender
- “Look Both Ways” by Jason Reynolds
- “On the Come Up” by Angie Thomas
- “Patron Saints of Nothing” by Randy Ribay
- “Race to the Sun” by Rebecca Roanhorse
- “The Black Flamingo” by Dean Atta
- “Tweet Cute” by Emma Lord
- “We Are Not From Here” by Jenny Torres Sanchez
- “When Stars Are Scattered” by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed
- “With the Fire on High” by Elizabeth Acevedo
- “Yes No Maybe So” by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed
To learn more or schedule an interview, please contact Rachel Cook at 352-334-3909 or rcook@aclib.us.
If a person with a disability needs an accommodation in order to participate in this event he or she is entitled, at no cost to him or her, to the provision of certain assistance. Please contact the Alachua County Library District at 352-334-3910 at least three (3) days prior to the event. TTY users please call 711 (Florida Relay Service).