Go, Readers!
The North Carolina School Library Media Association selects the Battle of the Books booklist each year and provides the rules and questions. School librarians and media specialists enlist team members that they hope can read and retain (most of) the ten books they'll be quizzed on. They coach their readers by encouraging reading, discussing the B.o.B. books, and creating sample questions for practice rounds.
It was a meeting of the minds in the Ocracoke School gym during the head-to-head competition. All four teams were well-read and prepared for thinking. In a series of six rounds, the participants took turns fielding questions, which always begin: "In which book...." The teams were allowed to confer for twenty seconds before giving an answer. Correct answers (book titles) earn 2 points; naming the correct author earns a bonus point. If a team gives an incorrect answer, the other team can steal the 2 points (but not the bonus point) by answering correctly.
After finishing the first round ten points behind, Mattamuskeet's elementary school team pulled ahead to beat Ocracoke's team by six points, with a final score of 96-90.
Ocracoke's middle school team played with a disadvantage: only two girls competed against the four girls on the Mattamuskeet team. Our girls thought valiantly, but the final score was 96–91 with Mattamuskeet taking home the trophy.
This was Chrisi Gaskill's first Battle of the Books as Ocracoke School's librarian, a job she began in January.
"Chrisi put in a lot of time after school, and worked really hard on this," said Ocracoke B.o.B. parent Laura McClain, who was impressed with the effort from Chrisi and the kids. (I didn't get a photo of Chrisi at B.o.B., but go out to Trivia Night on May 10th at Gaffer's and you'll see her! Chrisi honed her skills at formulating very detailed questions by being Ocracoke's trivia co-host.)
Here at the Current, we love books and think that reading is an end in itself. All these kids signed on to read more books than their peers and to read some books they might not have chosen for themselves. They read non-fiction, memoir, historical fiction, fantasy, and contemporary fiction. They got to travel through time and space and have great adventures through the pages of a book. That makes them all winners!
Thanks to moderator Charles Temple, judges Justin LeBlanc, Leslie Cole and Richard Bryant, timekeeper Kay Riddick, and scorekeeper Mary Bryant for helping these young readers show what they know.
In case you want to be as smart as 4th, 5th, and 6th graders, here's a recommended reading list:
Elementary: Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate, Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt, Greetings From Nowhere by Barbara O'Connor, Saavy by Ingrid Law, Smells Like Dog by Suzanne Selfors, The Homework Machine by Dan Gutman, The Key to Extraordinary by Natalie Lloyd, The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick, The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin, Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen.
Middle School: Greenglass House by Katie Milford, Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez, Wonder by R.J. Palacio, Iron Thunder by Avi, I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai, Forged by Fire by Sharon M. Draper, Bomb by Steve Sheinkin, Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty, Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang, A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielson.
