Battle of the Books

Battle of the Books is a program for 5th and 6th graders where students are put into teams of three, read 12 books of the district's choosing, then answer questions about those 12 books for points. The questions are judged very strictly and have to be answered in 20-30 seconds depending on the type of question. For example, if the questions asks "In what book . . . ?" and the answer is "The Door in the Wall." If you just say "Door in the Wall" then the answer is incorrect. You have to say "THE Door in the Wall." The competition begins at your local school and is divided throughout the school year into three rounds (4 books for each round). Tanner's team did really well during the first 2 rounds but missed 2 questions which put them into 3rd place going into the final round. His team was perfect and got every question right in the 3rd round while the 2 teams in front of them missed just enough questions to put Tanner's team into first place for his school. This is the final school competition.

Last week, Tanner's team competed in the district semi-finals which consists of winning teams from the other elementary schools in the district. Due to the large number of schools (I think there are 37 schools that competed), the semi-finals are divided into 3 heats with the top 4 teams from each heat advancing to the finals. Tanner's team was the only team that answered every question correctly, and therefore won their heat. They will compete again tonight against the other advancing teams in the district finals. We are excited to see them compete and hope they can take home the district title!! And here they are at the semi-finals.

The winners of the semi-finals!