March Book Madness is back in the Uni High Library! Eryn (the library’s Practicum Student) has been hard at work to get pairings and brackets ready for the big reveal, and this year’s competition looks fierce!
(Book summaries are below the bracket and voting instructions!)
BRACKET INSTRUCTIONS
Library staff will be visiting ELA classrooms next week (February 27th-March 3rd) to distribute brackets. Blank brackets will also be available for pick-up in the library on Monday, February 27th.
To fill out your bracket, select one of each pair of books as the ‘winner’ using whatever criteria you want.
- Any way you can mark your winners is okay, but re-writing the name of the book or the number underneath the book is the clearest way.
- Once you’ve selected winners for all of the first round contests, pick again, this time pitting the winners against each other.
- The winners of the Elite Eight on each side will face each other in the Final Four, then the left and right four winners will compete in the Championship.
Brackets can be turned in during normal library hours or in the kitchen. All brackets are due by the end of the day Friday, March 10th!
VOTING INSTRUCTIONS
Each week in March, students will vote to decide each round’s winners! Voting will take place online via Google Form and in person at the circulation desk. Watch for updates here and on the Uni High Instagram page!
- Round 1 voting ends on Friday, March 10th
- Round 2 voting ends on Friday, March 17th (this voting round will be online ONLY due to Spring Break)
- Round 3 voting ends on Friday, March 24th
- Round 4 voting ends on Friday, March 31st
- Winner Book and Bracket will be announced on Tuesday, April 4th
Even if you don’t fill out a bracket, please vote weekly!
SCORING EXPLANATION
- Correct First Round Selection: 2 points each
- Correct Elite Eight Selection: 3 points each
- Correct Final Four Selection: 5 points each
- Correct Winner: 9 points
- Perfect Bracket: 47 points
*In the case of ties, the bracket that includes correctly selected matchups will win (e.g. Eryn and Alexa both have 28 points, but Alexa chose correct matchups, so Alexa wins)
- The top scoring brackets will be able to select prizes from the prize pool. The highest scorer picks first. Prizes include some copies of most of the top 16 books, exclusive advanced reader copies of books, candy, and more.
- A perfect bracket will receive an additional Fabulous Prize!
BOOK SUMMARIES
Match-up #1
Ouran High School Host Club, Volume 1 by Bisco Hatori (#1)
The comedic series revolves around the escapades of Haruhi Fujioka, a scholarship student at the prestigious Ouran Academy, an elite private school for rich kids located in Bunkyo, Tokyo. One day, Haruhi stumbles upon the otherwise-abandoned Third Music Room and breaks an $80,000 vase that belongs to the ‘Host Club’, a mysterious campus group consisting of six super-rich (and gorgeous) guys. Haruhi must work off the debt as the club’s errand boy. Her short hair, slouching attire, and gender-ambiguous face cause her to be mistaken by the Hosts for a male student, though they soon realize her actual gender and the fact that she’s a “natural” in entertaining girls. In response, they decide to “promote” her to a member of the Host Club so that she may work off her debt, all while concealing her gender from the rest of the student body as well as their growing feelings for her.
Kitchen Princess, Volume 1 by Natsumi Ando (#2)
Najika is a great cook and likes to make meals for the people she loves. But something is missing from her life. When she was a child, she met a boy who touched her heart–and now Najika is determined to find him. The only clue she has is a silver spoon that leads her to the prestigious Seika Academy.
Attending Seika will be a challenge. Every kid at the school has a special talent, and the girls in Najika’s class think she doesn’t deserve to be there. But Sora and Daichi, two popular brothers who barely speak to each other, recognize Najika’s cooking for what it is–magical. Is either boy Najika’s mysterious prince?
Match-up #2
The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (#3)
Avery Grambs has a plan for a better future: survive high school, win a scholarship, and get out. But her fortunes change in an instant when billionaire Tobias Hawthorne dies and leaves Avery virtually his entire fortune. The catch? Avery has no idea why — or even who Tobias Hawthorne is.
To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man’s touch — and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes. Unfortunately for Avery, Hawthorne House is also occupied by the family that Tobias Hawthorne just dispossessed. This includes the four Hawthorne grandsons: dangerous, magnetic, brilliant boys who grew up with every expectation that one day, they would inherit billions. Heir apparent Grayson Hawthorne is convinced that Avery must be a conwoman, and he’s determined to take her down. His brother, Jameson, views her as their grandfather’s last hurrah: a twisted riddle, a puzzle to be solved. Caught in a world of wealth and privilege, with danger around every turn, Avery will have to play the game herself just to survive.
Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé (#4)
Welcome to Niveus Private Academy, where money paves the hallways, and the students are never less than perfect. Until now. Because anonymous texter, Aces, is bringing two students’ dark secrets to light.
Talented musician Devon buries himself in rehearsals, but he can’t escape the spotlight when his private photos go public. Head girl Chiamaka isn’t afraid to get what she wants, but soon everyone will know the price she has paid for power.
Someone is out to get them both. Someone who holds all the aces. And they’re planning much more than a high-school game…
An incendiary and utterly compelling thriller with a shocking twist that delves deep into the heart of institutionalized racism, from an exceptional new YA voice.
Match-up #3
Heartstopper, Volume 1 by Alice Oseman (#5)
Charlie, a highly-strung, openly gay over-thinker, and Nick, a cheerful, soft-hearted rugby player, meet at a British all-boys grammar school. Friendship blooms quickly, but could there be something more…?
Charlie Spring is in Year 10 at Truham Grammar School for Boys. The past year hasn’t been too great, but at least he’s not being bullied anymore. Nick Nelson is in Year 11 and on the school rugby team. He’s heard a little about Charlie – the kid who was outed last year and bullied for a few months – but he’s never had the opportunity to talk to him.
They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn’t think he has a chance. But love works in surprising ways, and sometimes good things are waiting just around the corner…
Roadqueen: Eternal Roadtrip to Love by Mira Ong Chua (#6)
She can steal the heart of every girl…except the one who stole her bike!
Leo’s the hottest senior at Princess Andromeda Academy, and her adoring fangirls have one goal: to beat her in a road race so she’ll go out with them. Unfortunately, the only thing Leo loves more than breaking hearts is her faithful old motorcycle, Bethany. But the arrival of mysterious new girl Vega upends her daily routine forever.
Now it’s graduation season, and with her beloved motorcycle gone, Leo finds herself facing a lonely summer at an all-time low…until mysterious beauty Vega comes crashing back into her life. The two strike a deal that puts Leo’s bike – and dignity – on the line. Will Leo rise to the occasion, or lose Bethany forever? What’s Vega’s deal, anyway? And what’s this burning feeling in both of their hearts???
Match-up #4
Circe by Madeline Miller (#7)
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child–neither powerful like her father nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power: the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.
Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts, and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.
But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from or with the mortals she has come to love.
The Mark of Athena, The Heroes of Olympus #3 by Rick Riordan (#8)
Annabeth is terrified. Just when she’s about to be reunited with Percy—after six months of being apart, thanks to Hera—it looks like Camp Jupiter is preparing for war. As Annabeth and her friends Jason, Piper, and Leo fly in on the Argo II, she can’t blame the Roman demigods for thinking the ship is a Greek weapon. With its steaming bronze dragon figurehead, Leo’s fantastical creation doesn’t appear friendly. Annabeth hopes that the sight of their praetor Jason on deck will reassure the Romans that the visitors from Camp Half-Blood are coming in peace.
And that’s only one of her worries. In her pocket, Annabeth carries a gift from her mother that came with an unnerving command: Follow the Mark of Athena. Avenge me. Annabeth already feels weighed down by the prophecy that will send seven demigods on a quest to find—and close—the Doors of Death. What more does Athena want from her?
Narrated by four different demigods, The Mark of Athena is an unforgettable journey across land and sea to Rome, where important discoveries, surprising sacrifices, and unspeakable horrors await. Climb aboard the Argo II, if you dare. . . .
Match-up #5
Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe (#9)
In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortable with strangers knowing about em. Now, Gender Queer is here. Maia’s intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, and facing the trauma of pap smears. Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity—what it means and how to think about it—for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere.
Ender’s Game, Ender’s Saga #1 by Orson Scott Card (#10)
Andrew “Ender” Wiggin thinks he is playing computer simulated war games; he is, in fact, engaged in something far more desperate. The result of genetic experimentation, Ender may be the military genius Earth desperately needs in a war against an alien enemy seeking to destroy all human life. The only way to find out is to throw Ender into ever harsher training, to chip away and find the diamond inside, or destroy him utterly. Ender Wiggin is six years old when it begins. He will grow up fast.
But Ender is not the only result of the experiment. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway almost as long. Ender’s two older siblings, Peter and Valentine, are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. While Peter was too uncontrollably violent, Valentine very nearly lacks the capability for violence altogether. Neither was found suitable for the military’s purpose. But they are driven by their jealousy of Ender, and by their inbred drive for power. Peter seeks to control the political process, to become a ruler. Valentine’s abilities turn more toward the subtle control of the beliefs of commoner and elite alike, through powerfully convincing essays. Hiding their youth and identities behind the anonymity of the computer networks, these two begin working together to shape the destiny of Earth-an Earth that has no future at all if their brother Ender fails.
Match-up #6
Queen of Shadows, Throne of Glass #4 by Sarah J. Maas (#11)
Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she’s at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past…
She has embraced her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight.
She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die for her. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen’s triumphant return.
The fourth volume in the New York Times bestselling series continues Celaena’s epic journey and builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.
Red Queen, Red Queen #1 by Victoria Aveyard (#12)
This is a world divided by blood—red or silver.
The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change. That is until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.
Fearful of Mare’s potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, to bring down the Silver regime.
But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance—Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart.
Match-up #7
Looking for Alaska by John Green (#13)
Before. Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . .
After. Nothing is ever the same.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (#14)
standing on the fringes of life…
offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see
what it looks like from the dance floor.
This haunting novel about the dilemma of passivity vs. passion marks the stunning debut of a provocative new voice in contemporary fiction: The Perks of Being A WALLFLOWER
This is the story of what it’s like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie’s letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that the perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite.
Through Charlie, Stephen Chbosky has created a deeply affecting coming-of-age story, a powerful novel that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller coaster days known as growing up.
Match-up #8
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Volume 1, Stardust Crusaders #1 by Hirohiko Araki (#15)
An epic horror-action-adventure! Once there was a mighty bloodline of heroes: the Joestars. In the 1880s, Englishman Jonathan Joestar gave his life to defeat Dio, a megalomaniacal vampire. Now, 100 years later, Dio is back, and Jonathan’s descendants must travel to Egypt to destroy their ancestral enemy once and for all.
In a Japanese jail sits 17-year-old Jotaro Kujo: punk, fighter, delinquent…and possessed by a force beyond his control! Around the world, evil spirits are awakening: “Stands,” monstrous invisible creatures which give their bearers incredible powers. To save his mother’s life, Jotaro must tame his dark forces and travel around the world to Cairo, Egypt, where a hundred-year-old vampire thirsts for the blood of his family. But the road is long, and an army of evil Stand Users waits to kill JoJo and his friends…
Death Note, Volume 1: Boredom, Death Note #1 by Tsugumi Ohba,Takeshi Obata (#16)
Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects – and he’s bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami, a death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But when criminals begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to track down the killer. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal… or his life?
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