What began as a creative concept by School District 72 (SD72) teacher-librarians to encourage students to read quality fiction books has become an annual regional competition, the most recent winners of which were just announced.
For the last couple months, according to the SD72 release about the competition, several hundred elementary and middle school students have been competing for the right to represent their zone in School District 72’s annual literacy competition, Battle of the Books, which was held on April 12 at Timberline Secondary School.
In the Battle of the Books competitions, teams of three students read selected novels and compete in question-and-answer competitions to test their knowledge on the material they read.
Teams were asked 30 questions and expected to answer in 20 seconds with the use of answer cards.
At the district championships, Ripple Rock Elementary School’s team of Lola Duncan, Lyric John-Cliffe, and another student who cannot be named due to privacy requests won the Grade 3 category.
École Willow Point’s team of Emry Clark, Quinton Darcy and Nolan Field won the Grade 4 category.
The Grade 5 category went to Laura Nicoll, Juliette Nimmon and Mieka Shaflik from Quadra Elementary.
Southgate Middle School’s team of Dylan Jensen and two other students who cannot be named due to privacy requests won the Grade 6 category.
Being declared Battle of the Books champions is no easy feat, with teams having to compete and win their school competition, a zone playoff against neighbouring schools, and then the district competition against the other zone winners.
District winners were awarded gift certificates to Save-On Foods and Strathcona Gardens, along with the knowledge that their love of the written word has not gone unnoticed.