Battle of the Books has come to Murch, and your 2nd-5th grader is invited to participate!
Battle of the Books is a trivia-style competition for 2nd through 5th graders and is designed to motivate students to read high-quality children’s literature. Battles began in mid-March, and the championship battles will take place at the end of May.
Each grade level (2nd-5th grade) has a book list of titles. Students are encouraged to read as many of the titles on their lists as they can.
For the Battle of the Books booklist, click HERE. Multiple copies of all of the Battle of the Books titles are available in the Murch Library, with many also available in individual classrooms and the DC Public Library.
How Does the Battle of the Books Work?
- Each classroom is a battle team. Students are not required to participate, but they are considered part of the team.
- This year, the theme is Creatures of Myth and Legend. Each team will choose a creature to represent their team (as their team name and/or mascot). Each team will design a banner to represent them and to take with them as they march into “battle” against other teams.
- In each battle, students are asked questions about the characters, settings and events in their books. Every battle question begins with “In which book..?” Each team is asked 12 questions in turn. Each student has only two chances to answer a question. Answers should include the book title and author. If a child can’t recall the author, then they can ask the team for help and another student can give the author name. The team gets one to three points for correct answers. At the end of 24 questions, the points for each team are tabulated and recorded.
- In a battle season, each team will have between 6 and 9 battles (depending on the grade level).
- At the end of the battle season, the two teams from each grade level with the most points face off in an end-of-school-year Battle of the Books championship. (The top two teams from the combined 4th and 5th grades compete in their Battle of the Books championship.)
For specific questions about Battle of the Books, please contact Regina Bell or Holly Hope.
Happy reading!