In its closest competition yet in nine years, the Battle of the Books returned Friday, May 21, to Opstad Elementary, where it all began.
The annual reading knowledge competition challenges the minds of bookworms from each elementary school in the Snoqualmie Valley School District in a competitive question-and-response format covering 14 novels.
Battle of the Books inspires children to read, and librarians promote books and authors that young people might not otherwise discover.
Students in fourth and fifth grades must read at least three books on the reading list to make the final teams competing for the district title.
“Out of 400 children, working and reading, you are the elite of the elite in our Snoqualmie Valley,” Cascade View Librarian Susan Head told final participants.
Teams of five students signed up in December and met in their school libraries to begin honing their book smarts. In-school competitions began in early February, and an elimination round took place in April, with each elementary school narrowing entrants down to one team. Fall City Elementary saw 23 teams take the field, while OES fielded 16 teams.
At the finals, representing Cascade View Elementary were the Bookeaters, with the Book Storm of Fall City Elementary, the Bookinators of Snoqualmie Elementary School, Books ‘R’ Us of North Bend Elementary and the Chimmy Changas of Opstad Elementary rounding out the competition.
Teams were quizzed on scenes, characters and events from the 14 books. They also had to name the correct book reference. If a team missed a question, other teams had a chance to snag points.
Bookeaters and Bookinators were neck-and-neck during the competition.
Sealing the deal in the final round, the Bookeaters snagged a five point lead after nagging a question from the Bookinators. With that, Fall City Elementary’s two year reign as Battle of the Books champions was finally over.
“This has been the tightest battle ever; it came down to one question, one answer,” said Head. “It was such a tight race, all the way up to the end.”
