Read a novel a week, and you’re likely to get the contents confused — to forget which character was in what story. But that would be a drawback in the “Battle of the Books.”
The “Battle” sounds like a free-for-all with readers hurling paperbacks at one another. But it’s much tamer than that. It’s a quiz program, where students get to represent their library.
They prepare for the competition by reading eight books during the summer. The sequence doesn’t matter. What’s important is keeping the details straight.
On the day of the event, the questions all begin with the words “In which book?” The first team to know the answer pushes a buzzer and gets five seconds to respond. To get credit, the team has to correctly identify the title and the author.
It sounds doable unless the answer happens to be “I am Malala,” by Malala Yousafzai. We interviewed the three youngest members of the Cornwall team — middle schoolers Katherine DiLillo, Caleb Sandler and Abigail Schewtschenko. They said that each person had a different way of saying Malala’s last name.
The Cornwall team held a practice session and chose a buzzer person before facing the other libraries on Sept. 10. Each round consisted of 18 questions. It was a long day (from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m with a break for pizza), because Cornwall survived until the final round. The Dragons finished second, which was their best showing ever.
As a result, the library received a $250 award, and the players got to select three books to take home and keep. They also received a goodie bag with candy, bookmarks and pens.
The Youth Librarians, Liz Fischer and Liz SinClair, accompanied the team, and Mrs. Fischer kept the contestants energized by slipping them candy, which she kept concealed in her pocket book.
The three middle school members said that the rounds were stressful — especially when they were battling to get into the finals. But the three enjoyed the books and the experience. Their teammates were: Ellie Barth, Emmaline DiLillo, Ben Harrell, Michael James, Michelle James and Tara Rao.
