Both the elementary and junior high schools of the Bethel School District participate in a Battle of the Books each year. The event has become widely anticipated as hundreds of our students begin reading each fall for the spring battles, both at their school and ultimately at the district competitions.

At both the elementary and junior high levels, Battle of the Books requires student participants to read a minimum of five books from a selected list of titles. Of course, students are encouraged to read as many of the books from the list as possible! The students form teams of four students to compete against other teams in a tournament similar to College Bowl. During the competition the teams earn points by correctly answering questions about the books on the list. The team with the most points at the end of the tournament is invited to continue to the next level of competition, the district battle.  Both the building and district battles are in the spring of each year.

This program will give students increased interaction with literature and an opportunity to discuss the books they’ve read. Additional benefits include working together as a team, learning to handle high-pressure situations, speaking before an audience, and setting goals for success.  All Battle books will be available for checkout from the participating school libraries, and each building’s teacher-librarian will book talk and promote the titles early in the school year so that students can get excited and get started.  Titles are chosen from a variety of award lists, suggested titles and student interest.

Please contact your student’s teacher-librarian for more detailed information about this year’s Battle of the Books.

2011-2012 Elementary Battle of the Books Titles

• 11 Birthdays (Mass)
• Alvin Ho Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things (Look)
• Dying to Meet You (Klise)
• Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (Kelly)
• Flight of the Phoenix (Nathaniel Fludd) (La Fevers)
• Gollywhopper Games (Feldman)
• Happenstance Found (Catanese)
• Jake Ransom and the Skull King’s Shadow (Rollins)
• Long Shot (Lupica)
• Lost and Found (Clements)
• Moving Day (Allie Finkle) (Cabot)
• NERDS:  National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society, Book 1 (Buckley)
• Scat (Hiaasen)
• Tango: The Tale of an Island Dog (Beha)
• Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Lin)
• Wild River (Petersen)

2011-2012 Junior High Battle of the Books Titles

• Code Orange (Cooney)
• Emako Blue (Woods)
• Flipped (Van Draanen)
• The Hunchback Assignments (Slade)
• Leviathan (Westerfeld)
• The Maze Runner (Dasher)
• Princess of the Midnight Ball (Day George)
• Raven’s Gate (Horowitz)
• Runner (Deuker)
• Silverwing (Oppel)
• Sunrise Over Fallujah (Myers)
• Thirteenth Child (Wrede)
• Waiting for Normal (Conner)

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