CWCS Battle of the Books 2012

What exactly is the Battle of the Books?
Sixteen books, suitable for students in Y10-Y13, have been selected to battle it out to find a winner.

How were they selected?
Choosing the books was not an easy task. We looked at many, many titles and were determined to choose books that were exceptional. Of the books selected, some have been prizewinners in other countries (and may not have originally been written in English). Some are adult books that are accessible to younger readers. All of them are books that we believe should be read by as many people as possible.

How does the Battle of the Books (BoB) work?
There will be four rounds

Round One: Each book is pitted against one other. Selection is made using title order (employing Bookshuffler principles therefore ignoring 'the', 'a' and 'an' ...).
Eight judges have two books to read and have to decide which book will go through to the next round.
Results of the first round will be made public from Thursday 8th March to Friday 20th March.


Round Two: Eight books make it to this round. Four judges read one pair of books (still in title order) and decide on a winner.
Results of the second round will be made public from Wednesday 18th April March to Monday 23rd April.


Round Three: Four books make it to this round. Two judges read one pair of books and decide on a winner.
Results of the third round will be made public on Tuesday 23rd May.

Round Four: Only two books are left BUT there is a chance for one book to come back from the dead ... There will be an opportunity for public voting to save one book from extinction.
The final choice will be between these three books. There can be only one winner!
The winning book will be announced at a Grand Tea Party in the Library on Thursday 14th June.
The winning author will be sent a certificate and be placed on the CWCS Library Roll of Honour.

LET BATTLE COMMENCE!

Soooooo - what are the books?

The Absolutist by John Boyne (2011) 

vs

An Act of Love by Alan Gibbons (2011)

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor (2011)

vs

The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje (2011)

A Dance of Ghosts by Kevin Brooks (2011)

vs
Far Rockaway by Charlie Fletcher (2011)

Fishtailing by Wendy Phillips (2010)
vs
In The Sea There Are Crocodiles by Fabio Geda (2011)

Life: An Exploded Diagram by Mal Peet (2011)
vs
Nothing by Janne Teller (2010)

Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman (2011)
vs
Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi (2011)

Swim The Fly by Don Calame (2011)
vs
A Time Of Miracles by Anne-Laure Bondoux (2010)

The True Tale Of The Monster Billy Dean ... by David Almond (2011)
vs
What We Keep Is Not Always What Will Stay by Amanda Cockrell (2011)


There will be more information about judges and the books themselves on the CWCS Battle of the Books later.
Bookshuffler would like to acknowledge the concept of BoB and thank School Library Journal (USA) for inspiring us.

If you would like to see what these books look like please follow this link to our Library's OPAC. Use the search term CWCS Battle of The Books 2012 and the list should appear. We apologise for a glitch that prevents some of the images appearing.