2014-2015
Battle of the Books
1984
By George Orwell
Currently, the Party is forcing the
implementation of an invented
language called Newspeak, which
attempts to prevent political
rebellion by eliminating all words
related to it. Even thinking
rebellious thoughts is illegal. Such
thoughtcrime is, in fact, the worst
of all crimes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_emb
edded&v=Z4rBDUJTnNU
Lord of the Flies
By William Golding
A group of schoolboys are planewrecked on a deserted island. At first,
the stranded boys cooperate,
attempting to gather food, make
shelters, and maintain signal fires.
But… there are many in their number
who would rather swim, play, or hunt
the island's wild pig population. Soon,
rules are being ignored and challenges
are made.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnCn
2VTzY90
Catcher in the Rye
By J.D. Salinger
Pencey is Holden’s fourth school;
he has already failed out of three
others. At Pencey, he has failed
four out of five of his classes and
has received notice that he is
being expelled, but he is not
scheduled to return home to
Manhattan until Wednesday…
•
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_CB
77ZC4Os
A Wrinkle in Time
By Madeleine L’Engle
It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry,
her small brother Charles Wallace, and
her mother had come down to the
kitchen for a midnight snack when they
were upset by the arrival of a most
disturbing stranger.
"Wild nights are my glory," the unearthly
stranger told them. "I just got caught in a
downdraft and blown off course. Let me
sit down for a moment, and then I'll be on
my way. Speaking of ways, by the way,
there is such a thing as a tesseract."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU7tC4uHiRU
The Time Machine
By H.G. Wells
A Victorian scientist develops a time
machine and travels to the year
802,171 AD. There he finds the meek,
child-like Eloi who live in fear of the
underground-dwelling Morlocks. When
his time machine goes missing, the
Traveler faces a fight to enter the
Morlocks' domain and return to his own
time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36UQCZEsY9g
Where the Red Fern Grows
By Wilson Rawls
Billy, Old Dan and Little Ann -- a
Boy and His Two Dogs... A loving
threesome, they ranged the dark
hills and river bottoms of Cherokee
country. Old Dan had the brawn,
Little Ann had the brains -- and
Billy had the will to train them to be
the finest hunting team in the
valley.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8JOVLR_1VI
The Chocolate War
By Robert Cormier
Does Jerry Renault dare to disturb
the universe? You wouldn't think
that his refusal to sell chocolates
during his school's fundraiser
would create such a stir, but it
does; it's as if the whole school
comes apart at the seams. Hero?
Hatred? Honor? Scapegoat?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihXcPZ09_l4
Flowers for Algernon
By Daniel Keyes
A mentally disabled man’s experimental
quest for intelligence mirrors that of
Algernon, an extraordinary lab mouse.
In poignant diary entries, Charlie tells
how a brain operation increases his IQ
and changes his life. As the
experimental procedure takes effect,
Charlie's intelligence expands until it
surpasses that of the doctors who
engineered his metamorphosis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfnBncBn8D4
The Strange Case of
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
By Robert Louis Stevenson
There are strange occurrences
between a lawyer’s old friend, Dr.
Henry Jekyll, and the evil Edward
Hyde. But how are they
connected? This intriguing
combination of fantasy thriller and
moral allegory depicts the gripping
struggle of two opposing
personalities — one essentially
good, the other evil — for the soul
of one man.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-41SR3jPseE
My Brother Sam is Dead
By James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
All his life, Tim Meeker has looked up to his
brother Sam. Sam's smart and brave -- and is
now a part of the American Revolution. Not
everyone in town wants to be a part of the
rebellion. Most are supporters of the British -including Tim and Sam's father. With the war
soon raging, Tim knows he'll have to make a
choice -- between the Revolutionaries and the
Redcoats . . . and between his brother and his
father.
Call of the Wild
By Jack London
Buck, a domesticated dog living at a
ranch in California, is stolen from his
home and sold into the brutal existence
of an Alaskan sled dog. He is forced to
adjust to, and survive, cruel treatments
and fight to dominate other dogs in a
harsh climate. Eventually he sheds the
veneer of civilization, relying on
primordial instincts and lessons he
learns, to emerge as a leader in the
wild.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN521XhWyYM
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
By Mildred D. Taylor
Nine-year-old Cassie Logan,
growing up protected by her
loving family, has never had
reason to suspect that any white
person could consider her inferior
or wish her harm. But during the
course of one devastating year
during the Great Depression,
when her community begins to be
ripped apart by angry night riders
threatening African Americans,
she and her three brothers come
to understand why the land they
own means so much to their
Papa.
•
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHbW2dliCLs
The Pearl
By John Steinbeck
Like his father and grandfather before him, Kino is
a poor diver, gathering pearls from the gulf
beds that once brought great wealth to the
Kings of Spain and now provide Kino, Juana,
and their infant son with meager subsistence.
Then, on a day like any other, Kino emerges
from the sea with a pearl as large as a sea
gull's egg, as "perfect as the moon." With the
pearl comes hope, the promise of comfort and
of security . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SKEODtaQUU
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
By Maya Angelou
Poet Maya Angelou recounts a youth filled
with disappointment, frustration, tragedy,
and finally hard-won independence. Sent at
a young age to live with her grandmother in
Arkansas, Angelou learned a great deal
from this exceptional woman and the tightly
knit black community there. These very
lessons carried her throughout the
hardships she endured later in life, including
a tragic occurrence while visiting her mother
in St. Louis and her formative years spent in
California--where an unwanted pregnancy
changed her life forever.
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=i+know+why+the+caged+bird+
sings+trailer&qs=n&form=QBVR&pq=i+know+why+the+caged+bird
Secret Garden
By Frances Hodgson Burnett
Mary, a lonely orphaned
girl is sent to live in a
frighteningly gloomy
mansion. Lonely at first,
she meets a local boy,
Dickon, who's earned
the trust of wild animals
and the invalid Colin, an
unhappy boy terrified of
life, and a mysterious,
abandoned garden...
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http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=secret+garden+movie+trailer&FORM=VI
RE2#view=detail&mid=F332A3CB7C953E2A60EDF332A3CB7C953E2A60ED
•
Book previews pulled directly from Amazon.com.