Battle of the Books

The Battle of the Books is a book trivia program coordinated by the planning committee for students in grades 3-12. Book Battles are competitions similar to quiz bowl games, but questions come from a controlled list of books that participants read in preparation for the competition. The purpose of the program is to foster a lifelong love of reading. The objective for Battle of the Books is to teach students how to work together in a group for a common goal, expose them to award-winning literature, and encourage a high volume of reading inside and outside the classroom.

There are a variety of ways to participate in Battle of the Books:

• School Coordinator: This person is responsible for organizing and promoting the school battle, registering their teams for district competition, and serves as the primary point of contact at school locations. This person is a school staff member and acts as liaison between the planning committee and the team coaches.

• Team Coach: This person organizes and promotes the school team, reads and meets with students, and prepares teams for battle. This person can be a school staff member or parent/guardian volunteer* and acts as liaison between the planning committee and families of student readers.

• Program Volunteer: These people assist at the District competition. There are a variety of volunteer positions available and people are able to sign up to volunteer after school battles have finished. Information about specific roles and duties are released during District registration.

• Student Reader: students in grades 3-12 who sign up to compete with their school’s Battle of the Books team. These students read competition books, support each other in their reading, and work collaboratively at competitions.

• Team Captain: the Student Reader responsible for bringing all required materials to the District Battle for their team.

• Spectator: These people are family and friends of student readers who support them in Battle of the Books.

*Non-staff volunteers must be authorized by their school. See the Volunteer Authorization webpage or contact your school’s office staff for details.

School Battle

School Coordinators should register their intent to compete in Battle of the Books using the Battle of the Books: School Registration form by October 4, 2024 (Please register each grade level team individually using this form). Team Coaches can then begin meeting with students and develop their reading strategy (see Preparing for Battle on page 7). Schools can have as many teams of 5 students each as they have capacity for.

The School Coordinator is responsible for scheduling and hosting a School Battle in February 2025. This School Battle will determine which two teams of 5 students advance to the District Battle. School Coordinators will receive twenty-five (25) Battle questions for individual school competitions. Questions are all in the same format – “In what book...?”. Answers are always in the form of the title and author of the book. Competition format is at the discretion of the School Coordinator and Team Coach(es). After the School Battle is complete, School Coordinators register their team(s) for the District Battle using the Battle of the Books: District Registration form by March 1, 2025. Two teams of five students each can register to compete at the District competition.

District Battle

The District Battle is scheduled for March 29, 2025, exact time and location to be determined. Qualifying teams from schools compete during a designated time for their grade level. Teams must bring a computer to complete the Battle, which is hosted on Google Forms. Forty (40) questions in the format – “In what book...?” must be answered at the District Battle. Answers are always in the form of the title and author of the book. Each question will be read aloud once before timing begins. Teams then have 30 seconds to confer with their teammates and answer each question. Points are awarded based on the number of correctly answered questions. In the event of a tie, teams will answer additional questions to determine a winner.

Out of respect for competitors, spectators will not be allowed to enter a competition room. Team Coaches attempting to interfere with Student Readers during a Battle may disqualify their team from competing.

Teams are composed of student readers from the same grade at a school site. Teams may also be formed by groups of students from the same homeschool grade. All team members should be active participants and read all of the books.

Teams competing at the District competition are made up of no more than 5 students from the same grade. Once a team has been formed and registered for the district competition, no changes can be made. A team may have one alternate on standby on the day of the District Battle. This alternate will only compete if a team member is unexpectedly unable to make the competition. If teams don’t have or choose not to have an alternate they can compete with fewer than five team members.

The Team Coach is responsible for helping the team prepare for the battle. They also serve as a contact person for the team and will receive all relevant program information from the Planning Committee. A coaching guide is included in this toolkit (see page 8). A parent or other adult who is an authorized volunteer can serve as team coach, but it is up to the student readers to make sure that they read the books on the list. A team captain is also necessary for each team. This student reader will be responsible for bringing the appropriate materials to the District Battle for their team and for selecting the team’s response in the Google Form.

Books are chosen by the committee members in the spring, prior to the end of the school year. Considerations when selecting titles for the list include reading level, popularity/appeal, diversity, awards received, promotion of excellent titles that may not be well known, the number of available copies of each title in the Loveland Public Library catalog, and availability of paperback, e-book, or audiobook copies.

Public and school libraries are encouraged to add the books on the list to their collections. Check your local public library for BoB titles. Locally, you can purchase used books at Book Haven, and thrift stores.

For information on requirements for the School Battle, check with your Team Coach.

For the District Battle, each team may need to bring a charged laptop. Team Coaches can bring a backup laptop in case of emergency.

A certificate will be awarded to every student who participates in Battle of the Books at every level. Student readers who place 1st, 2nd, or 3rd at the School Battle competition and student readers who place 1st, 2nd, or 3rd at the District Battle competition will als receive a prize. The grand prize for each grade level at the District Battle is a traveling trophy. Prizes are provided by Thompson School District.