winning and losing

Every generation, seven families select a champion to compete in a tournament to the death for control of high magick--the most powerful resource in the world--but this year, a salacious tell-all book draws reporters, tourists, and government agents to Ilvernath to watch the bloody curse unfold and some of the champions are determined to thwart their destinies and rewrite their stories.

Ernest Peterson's hopes of winning the Washington, D.C., Citywide Cup bicycle race are shattered when his grandmother gives him a huge, clunky, yellow bike for his tenth birthday.

Bijan discovers the cost of prioritizing victory in everything he does, from eating asparagus to coloring birds, when he discovers that some things, like friendship, cannot be won.

A life-long speech competitor, Leela Bose meets her match in Firoze Darcy, a debater from an elite private school, and as the tournament progresses, Leela finds her own winning streak at stake as well as her heart.

Seventeen-year-old Millicent M. Chalmers is depending on a series of debating victories, culminating in winning Alabama's state debate tournament, to secure a college scholarship, but her singular focus is disrupted after a run-in with Taggart Strong, who seems equally dedicated to losing every debate as long as he says what he really believes.

"Every generation, seven families select a champion to compete in a tournament to the death for control of high magick--the most powerful resource in the world--but this year, a salacious tell-all book draws reporters, tourists, and government agents to Ilvernath to watch the bloody curse unfold and some of the champions are determined to thwart their destinies and rewrite their stories"--OCLC.

Classmates enjoy the games and races on field day, but Stan needs to be reminded that winning is not everything.

"Every generation, seven families select a champion to compete in a tournament to the death for control of high magick--the most powerful resource in the world--but this year, a salacious tell-all book draws reporters, tourists, and government agents to Ilvernath to watch the bloody curse unfold and some of the champions are determined to thwart their destinies and rewrite their stories"--OCLC.

Karate is the most important thing in Aliyah s life. It allows her to fight - and she s good at that. It also makes her feel like a winner. Nothing is more important to Aliyah than taking down an opponent, especially if it s her main rival, Suma. Things soon change with the arrival of a new student, Zoya, who also happens to be Suma s little sister. Aliyah sees something familiar in Zoya - an anger and aggression that reminds Aliyah of herself. Upon the request of Suma, and with the approval of the sensei, Aliyah agrees to train Zoya. Through their training, she helps Zoya control her anger but also manages to learn a valuable lesson of her own - winning isn t everything.

Milo and his parents desperately want to win a Guinness World Record, but Milo ultimately discovers what winning really means.