This month marks the start of a growing competition sponsored by the State Library: The Battle of the Books for Middle School students. This was a new event last year, but it was held within each individual school. Our 6th grade students participated last year. This year the State Library is expanding the program so school teams will compete against each other in a Region, then State competition. How exciting! So how does this work?
Middle School students volunteer and form teams of 2-5 members. They divvy up the books from the list, report about their book to the other team members (enough that any one of them can answer questions about the book), then compete to see which team knows the most about the books. Each participant will need to sign a parent permission form before competing in this battle.
The Battle of the Books “program aims to encourage reading for pleasure, improve comprehension skills, and develop teamwork and sportsmanship”. (NDSL, Sept. 2024). A committee is selected to choose the books for the challenge. This year there are 12 titles to read. All are popular titles; some are considered classics.
If you know of a Middle School student who you think would enjoy reading new titles and having some friendly fun, please encourage them to talk to me and join a team. I look forward to seeing who participates in the battle this year!
Sincerely,
Heidi Q.
heidi.quinn@k12.nd.us
