Battle of the Books
Each year, the DC Library Association hosts a reading competition called Battle of the Books (BOB) for middle and elementary-aged students. Each school is allowed to send 3 teams of 5 students to compete against other schools by answering trivia questions about a selected set of books. There are 10 books chosen each year by DC librarians. The titles represent local authors, diverse topics, and a range of formats from graphic novels and novels in verse to nonfiction narratives and traditional chapter books. Many of the titles have already won book awards such as the Newbery, Michael Printz, and Pura Belpre medals, and the National Book Award. All of the books are nominated for the local DC book award known as the “Three Stars” book award which students are able to vote on in May and June each year. This is an opportunity for students to read great books and compete on a team with peers. Learn more about the competition here and see the list of this year’s books: https://dcla.org/DCLA-Battle-of-the-Books
This year, the goal is to have one team to represent each grade. Mr. Reichlen is distributing copies of the books to ELA teachers and has a few additional sets in the library. Any Deal student can borrow these books from one of their grade-level ELA teachers or get copies from Mr. Reichlen. They do not need to participate to read the books. Between now and mid-March, students will be reading the books and returning copies when they are finished. The school will have an in-house competition in April (date TBD) and the District competition on May 29th. Mr. Reichlen will send a sign-up sheet out in March for students who are interested in participating, and they will compete for one of the 5 spots for each grade. In the meantime, students can read any of the books freely. This club will not meet regularly. We will have a couple of after school practices in May for the final team. Otherwise, BOB will not compete with any other clubs and sports. Please reach out to Mr. Reichlen with additional questions. Happy reading!
