March Madness

The Handmaid's Tale vs. Internment

This is the Science Fiction Category:

• The Handmaid’s Tale: A dystopian novel set in the near future, in a totalitarian society called Gilead. The story is narrated by Offred, a woman forced into the role of a "Handmaid," whose sole purpose is to bear children for the ruling class. In this society, women have few rights, and the population is in decline due to infertility.

• Internment: A young adult dystopian novel set in the near future, where the United States has fallen into a totalitarian regime. In this world, Muslim Americans are forcibly relocated to internment camps following the rise of an authoritarian government that labels them as "security threats" based on their religion.

The Omnivore's Dilemma vs. Alive

This is the Nonfiction Category:

• The Omnivore's Dilemma: This book examines modern food choices and their impact on health, the environment, and ethics. Through four meals, Pollan explores the entire food production process, from farming to consumption.

• Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors tells the harrowing true story of a group of Uruguayan rugby players whose plane crashes in the remote Andes in 1972. Stranded in the freezing wilderness with no food or means of communication, the survivors are forced to make impossible decisions to stay alive.

Romeo and Juliet vs. The Crucible

This is the Plays category:

• Romeo and Juliet: Hark! Attend ye, noble gents and ladies of Verona! Prepare thine hearts for a tale most wondrous and most wretched, a story of love so pure, yet cursed by fate's own hand. Here before thee lies a tragedy, 'Romeo and Juliet,' a work so charged with passion, so fraught with sorrow, it shall leave thee breathless, and perchance, weeping.

• The Crucible: Good people of Salem and beyond, gather close, for I bring a tale of dire truth—a mirror to our souls. This is no tale of witches alone, but of mankind’s deepest fears, where truth and lies, innocence and guilt, are tangled in panic. The Crucible will burn away all pretense. In a village gripped by suspicion, falsehoods become truth, and accusations lead to death. The devil’s work may be feared, but the real evil lies in the hearts of men—envy, greed, and fear.

Refugee vs. The Things They Carried

This is the Historical Fiction category:

• Refugee: This book tells the gripping stories of three kids from different eras—escaping Nazi Germany, fleeing Cuba in the '90s, and surviving the Syrian war. Their dangerous journeys reveal the realities of what it means to seek safety and hope in the face of crisis.

• The Things They Carried: A collection of stories about soldiers in the Vietnam War. It focuses on the physical and emotional burdens they carry, like weapons, fear, and guilt, showing how war affects them both during and after the conflict. The stories mix reality and fiction to explore the struggles of war and trauma