Battle of the Books has been a year-long project involving 40 fourth- and fifth-grade volunteers. The students formed eight teams in October, and each team divided a list of 30 titles to read among themselves. Team meetings and book discussions were held during many lunch hours to give them a chance to encourage and share with each other.
In the reading competition in April, teams faced each other to answer trivia questions about the books and authors and determine a champion. Not only was the event a great afternoon, but it is why, when totaled, the kids read more than 40,000 pages on their own!
“I learned you can’t judge a book by its cover because some books turned out to be really good,” said student Anna Goldermann.
Other students shared their favorite parts about Battle of the Books:
“The competition.” — Nico Cheiffo
“The pressure of the crowd!” — Kevin Kurth
“You get to read a bunch of new books.” — Molly Seybert
“Fun meetings and our mascot, Speedy.” — Madeline Fer
