Fresno County Middle Schools Battle of the Books

Firegirl by Tony Abbot

A middle school boy's life is changed when Jessica, a girl disfigured by burns, starts attending his Catholic school while receiving treatment at a local hospital.

When sixteen-year-old Hope and the aunt who has raised her move from Brooklyn to Mulhoney, Wisconsin, to work as waitress and cook in the Welcome Stairways diner, they become involved with the diner owner's political campaign to oust the town's corrupt mayor.

A Solitary Blue by Cynthia Voight

Abandoned by his mother, Jeff is left to take of his absent-minded-professor father. When Jeff is stricken with pneumonia his father comes to realize that he, too has deserted his son. Slowly the two build a close strong relationship.

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards' families were housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.

Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney

A photograph of a missing girl on a milk carton leads Janie on a search for her real identity.

The Boggart by Susan Cooper

After visiting the castle in Scotland which her family has inherited, twelve-year-old Emily finds that she has accidentally brought home with her a boggart, an invisible and mischievous spirit with a fondness for practical jokes.

Black Star Bright Dawn by Scott O'Dell

Bright Dawn must face the challenge of the Iditarod dog sled race alone when her father is injured.

There's a Bat in Bunk Five by Paula Danzinger

On her own for the first time, fourteen-year-old Marcy tries to cope with the new people and situations she encounters while working as a counselor at an arts camp.

House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patron, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States.

Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman

Photographs and text trace the life of the Civil War President.

Nory Ryan's Song by Patricia Riley Giff

When a terrible blight attacks Ireland's potato crop in 1845, twelve-year-old Nory Ryan's courage and ingenuity helps her family and neighbors survive.

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression.

Breaking Through by Francisco Jimenez

Having come from Mexico to California ten years ago, fourteen-year-old Francisco is still working in the fields but fighting to improve his life and complete his education.

Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata

Chronicles the close friendship between two Japanese-American sisters growing up in rural Georgia during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the despair when one sister becomes terminally ill.

The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler

After finally convincing her mother that she should take swimming lessons, twelve-year-old Emily discovers a terrible and wonderful secret about herself that opens up a whole new world.

Silent to the Bone by E. L. Konigsburg

When he is wrongly accused of gravely injuring his baby half-sister, thirteen-year-old Branwell loses his power of speech and only his friend Connor is able to reach him and uncover the truth about what really happened.

Gentle Ben by Walt Morey

Traces the friendship between a boy and a bear in the rugged Alaskan Territory.

The Other Side of Dark by Joan Lowery Nixon

Seventeen-year-old Stacy awakens from a four-year coma ready to identify, locate, and prosecute the young man who murdered her mother and wounded her.

Project Mulberry by Linda Sue Park

Julia, a Korean-American, and her friend Patrick learn about tolerance, friendship, and patience while working together on a project about silkworms.

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

The life of a ten-year-old boy in rural Virginia expands when he becomes friends with a newcomer who subsequently meets an untimely death trying to reach their hideaway, Terabithia, during a storm.

The River by Gary Paulsen

Because of his success surviving alone in the wilderness for fifty-four days, fifteen-year-old Brian, profoundly changed by his time in the wild, is asked to undergo a similar experience to help scientists learn more about the psychology of survival.

Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver

6,000 years ago, twelve-year-old Torak and his guide, a wolf cub, set out on a dangerous journey to fulfill an oath the boy made to his dying father--to travel to the Mountain of the World Spirit to destroy a demon-possessed bear that threatens all the clans.

Teacher's Funeral by Richard Peck

In rural Indiana in 1904, fifteen-year-old Russell's dreams of quitting school and joining a wheat threshing crew are disrupted when his older sister takes over the teaching at his one-room schoolhouse after mean old Myrt Arbuckle dies.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Percy, expelled from six schools for being unable to control his temper, learns the truth from his mother that his father is the Greek god Poseidon, and is sent to Camp Half Blood where he is befriended by a satyr and the demigod daughter of Athena who join him in a journey to the Underworld to retrieve Zeus's lightning bolt and prevent a catastrophic war.