Battle of the Books
This summer vote to pick Surrey's favourite teen novel.
We started with a 32 title long list. We've narrowed it down to 16 titles for your consideration. Each week vote on four titles until we narrow it down to a winner at the end of the summer.
Voting started June 18. Each week there will be a new combination of books to pick from. Voting for each week starts at 12pm Wednesday and finishes the following Tuesday at 11:59am.
See the Battle of the Books List.
Week 5 Competitors
Each week we have two pairs of books to vote on.
Bracket One
A Wizard of Earthsea graphic novel - Ursula K. Le Guin
Ged was the greatest sorcerer in Earthsea, but in his youth he was the reckless Sparrowhawk. In his hunger for power and knowledge, he tampered with long-held secrets and unleashed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tumultuous tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance.
Read more about A Wizard of Earthsea graphic novel
Versus
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls – Grady Hendrix
They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they're sent to the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened. Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There's Rose, a hippie who insists she's going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who knows she's going to go home and marry her baby's father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who. Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they're allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what's best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it's never given freely. There's always a price to be paid-and it's usually paid in blood.
Bracket Two
They Bloom at Night - Trang Thanh Tran
In Mercy, Louisiana, a town plagued by red algae and vanishing residents, Noon finds a reluctant ally in Covey and the two join forces to hunt a deadly creature in the dark waters as a storm looms.
Read More about They Bloom at Night
Versus
Fitting Indian - Jyoti Chand
This teen graphic novel follows one girl's journey navigating high school and her mental health within a traditional South Asian family. All Nitasha's parents want is for her to be the perfect Indian daughter--something she is decidedly not. Everything she does seems to disappoint them, especially her mom. They just don't get that she'll never be like her doctor older brother. To make matters worse, she's never quite felt like she belongs at school either, and lately, her best friend, Ava, and her crush, Henry, seem to be more interested in the rich new girl than in her. Alcohol takes the edge off, but when that doesn't work, Nitasha turns to cutting. She can't stop asking herself: Will she ever be enough for her friends or her family? Or even for herself? This authentic and powerful teen graphic novel shines a light on how harmful the stigma of mental illness is and how lifesaving a community that is honest about mental health can be.
