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    2022 BIRBERY PROGRAM

    January 18th - May 19th

    Check out your book today!

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  • Week of January 17th                                                                                                            
    Birbery Program is announced
    Book checkout begins

    --BOOK CLUBS DATES COMING SOON--
    (Book clubs will begin after Mid-Winter break.)                                                                               

    May 9th
    Deadline for all reviews to be submitted: 8am.
    Qualifiers announced at the end of the day!
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    birbery What is the Birbery?            

    The Birbery is a reading program designed by Birmingham Media Specialists for all Birmingham Public School 6th, 7th, and 8th graders.  It is a “Mock Newbery” program. The real Newbery is an award given each year in January for “the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children in the preceding year.” The BPS Media Specialists and Baldwin librarians chose 10 exceptional books that they believe are front-runners for the real Newbery Award. 

     
     

    How do I participate?                       

    We have 10 titles to choose from.  Read as many of the titles as you like!

    Submit reviews on the titles you read on

    Destiny Discover  (see how-to video under Destiny menu option on the Berkshire Media Center webpage)

    You can also get to Destiny Discover through Classlink (Follet Destiny Icon   destiny )

    Each review should include:

    1. your full name and grade
    2. a brief summary of the book (but don’t spoil the ending)
    3. why you did or did not like the book
    4. who you would recommend the book to (people who like...)

    5 book reviews + at least 2 Book clubs will qualify a student for the pizza ans ice cream lunch

    7 book reviews + at least 2 Book clubs will qualify a student for the Quiz Bowl and chance to win the trip in a limo to Baldwin Library for the day. 

     

  • Yusef Azeem is Not a Hero 

    by Saadia Faruqi - Realistic Fiction  Yusuf is excited to start middle school in his small Texas town, but with the twentieth anniversary of the September 11 attacks coming up, suddenly it feels like the country's same anger and grief is all focused on his Muslim community.

    Comments (-1)

  • While I Was Away 

    by Waka T. Brown  Historical Fiction  When twelve-year-old Waka's parents suspect she can't understand the basic Japanese they speak to her, they make a drastic decision to send her to Tokyo to live for several months with her strict grandmother, where she faces the culture shock of a lifetime.

    Comments (-1)

  • Starfish 

    by Lisa Fipps  Verse Novel / Realistic Fiction  Bullied and shamed her whole life for being fat, twelve-year-old Ellie finally gains the confidence to stand up for herself, with the help of some wonderful new allies.

    Comments (-1)

  • The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. 

    by David Levithan Realistic Fiction / Fantasy Aidan disappeared for six days. Six agonizing days of searches and police and questions and constant vigils. Then, just as suddenly as he vanished, Aidan reappears. Where has he been? The story he tells is simply…impossible. But it's the story Aidan is sticking to.

    Comments (-1)

  • Linked

    by Gordon Korman  Realistic Fiction / Mystery  When swastikas begin appearing all over town, Link, Michael, and Dana, the only Jewish girl in town, must face crimes both past and present to find the truth. 

    Comments (-1)

  • The Last Cuentista 

    by Donna Barba Higuera  Science Fiction  Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children - among them Petra and her family - have been chosen to journey to a new planet. Hundreds of years later, Petra wakes to this new planet - and the discovery that she is the only person who remembers Earth

    Comments (-1)

  • How to Train Your Dad 

    by Gary Paulsen  Humor / Realistic Fiction  Twelve-year-old Carl is fed up with his father's single-minded pursuit of an off-the-grid existence, so he adopts the principles set forth in a randomly discovered puppy-training pamphlet to "retrain" his dad's mindset…a crackpot experiment that produces some very unintentional results.

    Comments (-1)

  • Ground Zero

    by Alan Gratz  Realistic Fiction / Historical Fiction  Brandon is visiting his dad on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center when the attack comes; Reshmina is a girl in Afghanistan who has grown up in the aftermath of that attack but dreams of peace. Both are struggling to survive, both changed forever by the events of 9/11.

    Comments (-1)

  • Dead's Man Castle

    by Iain Lawrence Horror / Mystery / Adventure Twelve-year-old Igor yearns for a normal life, but since he was five and his father witnessed a crime, his family has been on the run from the sinister figure he calls The Lizard Man.

    Comments (-1)

  • Amari & the Night Brothers 

    by B.B. Alston  Fantasy / Adventure  Thirteen-year-old Amari, a poor African American girl from the projects, gets an invitation from her missing brother to join the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs and join in the fight against an evil magician.

    Comments (-1)