Competition

Caged Warrier

Posted on September 23, 2016 by webmaster

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Caged Warrier
by Alan Lawrence Sitomer

McCutcheon Daniels' life is full of bone-cracking violence. As a star fighter in the gritty underground Mixed Martial Arts circuit in the poorest section of Detroit, McCutcheon fights under the tutelage of his volatile and violent father, not so much for himself but to survive as protector of his beloved five-year old sister, Gemma.

McCutcheon he battles opponents who are literally trying to kill him and he struggles to find a way to protect her and himself. Along the way, he decides to trust a teacher who has taken an interest in him and discovers the truth about his mother who seemingly disappeared on his thirteenth birthday.

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
850	Middle School	240	Drama	2015	1484722809

Natural

Posted on September 23, 2013 by webmaster

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The Natural
by Bernard Malamud

The book follows Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy whose career is sidetracked when he is shot by a socio-pathic serial killer. This story concerns itself with his attempts to return to baseball later in life, when he plays for the New York Knights with his legendary bat ‘Wonderboy..
Nineteen-year-old Roy Hobbs, a country bumpkin with a great pitching arm, is on his way to Chicago to try out for the Chicago Cubs. He is on the train with the Cubs’ scout, Sam Simpson. While on the train, Roy meets a woman named Harriet Bird, for whom he immediately develops a crush. He also meets a sports journalist, Max Mercy, who is on the train with a famous baseball hitter, the Whammer.

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Fifteen years later, Pop Fisher, the manager of the New York Knights, discovers he has a new “rookie” for his team—a thirty-four-year-old man named Roy Hobbs, whom the team’s owner, the stingy Judge Banner, has signed for a paltry $3,000.
The story recounts Roy’s ups and downs and tragedy in his personal life.

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
1060L	High School	248	Historical Fiction	2003	0374502005

Black Pearl

Posted on September 20, 2013 by webmaster

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The Black Pearl
by Scott O’Dell

Ramon wants to prove to his father, Blas Salazar, that he is just as good as Sevillano, Ramon’s worst enemy and Ramon’s father’s best pearl diver, at pearl diving. Manta Diablo, the monster of the deep, guards “The Pearl of the Heavens,” the ocean’s biggest pearl, that Ramon wants to dive for. Ramon got “The Pearl of the Heavens” and brought back home. When Ramon tells his father about the pearl, his father gives it to the church. Luzum, an old Indian tells Ramon that he should give it back to the Manta Diablo because the monster will come after him.

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
980	Middle School	144	Drama	2010	0547334001

Hunger Games

Posted on September 17, 2013 by webmaster

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The Hunger Games

by Suzanne Collins

In a not-too-distant future, the United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch.

When 16-year-old Katniss’s young sister, Prim, is selected as the mining district’s female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart, Peeta, the son of the town baker who seems to have all the fighting skills of a lump of bread dough, will be pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives.

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Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
810L	High School	384	Fantasy	2008	0439023481

How Angel Peterson Got His Name

Posted on September 17, 2013 by webmaster

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How Angel Peterson Got His Name
by Gary Paulsen

Angel and his friends try to shoot a waterfall in a barrel, break the world record for speed on skis, hang glide with an Army surplus parachute, and perform other daredevil stunts. A friend borrows a quarter to wrestle a bear at the carnival to get the attention of a girl, only to be swept out of the ring by a giant paw, like “a hockey puck with legs.”

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The action takes place 50 or so years ago, this group of adventures can be quite funny. Although the book doesn’t explain why boys like to do crazy things, it does give an insight into how the minds of teenagers who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s worked. Paulson shows boys moving into adolescence believing they can do anything: wrestle with bears; shoot waterfalls in a barrel; fly eight-by-twelve-foot Army surplus kites–and hang on, even as they land in the chicken coop.

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
1110L	High School	128	Comedy	2004	0440229359

Murder on the Iditarod Trail

Posted on September 16, 2013 by webmaster

Murder on the Iditarod Trail
by Sue Henry

The Iditarod, sometimes called “The Last Great Race,” takes mushers, (dog sled racers), and their dog teams over 1150 miles of some of Alaska’s roughest, most majestic terrain – jagged mountain ranges, iced-over areas of Norton Sound, frozen rivers, dense forests, desolate tundra and miles of windswept coastline. This year’s race has a major impediment to arriving at the finish line in one piece. It seems as if one of the contestants is eliminating the competition by cruel, unusual and permanent means. Top Iditarod mushers are dying on the trail in the most gruesome and bizarre ways. Three deaths have occurred before the halfway mark is reached in a race that has never claimed a life in its entire history.

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Jessie Arnold, the top female contender, is determined to win and not allow the terrible deaths/murders of her friends and colleagues to deter or distract her from her goal. State Trooper Alex Jensen, a gifted investigator, as well as a handsome bachelor, meets the attractive Jessie during the race and the two are immediately drawn to each other. Already committed to finding the killer before he/she can do any more harm, Jensen is especially anxious for Jessie, as she is now favored to win, and has thus become a bigger threat to the murderer. As more victims fall prey to mysterious injuries, Jensen realizes that the killer is after more than money and prestige.

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
590	Middle School	320	Drama	1993	0380717581

Queen of Second Place

Posted on September 15, 2013 by webmaster

The Queen of Second Place
by Laura Peyton Roberts

Cassie Howard believes everyone has a talent. Unfortunately, hers is taking second place. No matter how hard she tries, she’s always second best . . . in school, in life, and especially in love. When Cassie discovers new-boy-in-town Kevin Matthews she wants him on sight. But so does conniving Sterling Carter, a ridiculously beautiful preppy princess and Cassie’s enemy since freshman year. Sterling is the kind of girl who always gets it all, and Cassie . . . isn’t. Is there any point even trying when the first fifteen years of Cassie’s life have proven she’s doomed to fail? Can the Queen of Second Place ever truly win?

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With new-found determination and the support of friends whose not-so-glorious talents range from parking cars to whistling, Cassie sets out to capture Kevin’s heart and make herself first at last.

Lexile Level	Content Rating	Number of Pages	Genre	Date Published	ISBN Number
880L	High School	336	Romance	2006	0440238714