Battle of the Books
Battle of the Books supports the development of future-ready readers, thinkers, innovators, inquirers, and collaborators in alignment with Strive 2025.
The Battle of the Books is for students in grades 3-12.
Planning Committee
Please get in touch with your school's BOB Coach for information regarding the schedule for your team.
Grand Battle Champions 2024
Elementary
- 3rd grade - New Vision Charter School
- 4th grade - Cottonwood Plains Elementary School
- 5th grade - Ivy Stockwell Elementary School
Middle School
- 6th grade - New Vision Charter School
- 7/8 grade - Lucile Erwin Middle School
Book Lists
BoB Handbook
Getting Started
- What is the Battle of the Books?
- What is my role?
- How are battles structured?
- Who can be on a team?
- Who is responsible for the team?
- How are books selected for the book list?
- What will I need on the day of the battle?
- Are there prizes?
What is the Battle of the Books?
The Battle of the Books is a book trivia program coordinated by the planning committee for students in grades 3-12. Book Battles are competitions similar to quiz bowl games, but questions come from a controlled list of books that participants read in preparation for the competition. The purpose of the program is to foster a lifelong love of reading. The objective for Battle of the Books is to teach students how to work together in a group for a common goal, expose them to award-winning literature, and encourage a high volume of reading inside and outside of the classroom.
What is my role?
There are a variety of ways to participate in Battle of the Books:
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School Coordinator: This person is responsible for organizing and promoting the school battle, registering their teams for district competition, and serves as the primary point of contact at school locations. This person is a school staff member and acts as liaison between the planning committee and the team coaches.
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Team Coach: This person organizes and promotes the school team, reads and meets with students, and prepares teams for battle. This person can be a school staff member or parent/guardian volunteer* and acts as liaison between the planning committee and families of student readers.
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Program Volunteer: These people assist at the District competition. There are a variety of volunteer positions available and people are able to sign up to volunteer after school battles have finished. Information about specific roles and duties are released during District registration.
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Student Reader: students in grades 3-12 who sign up to compete with their school’s Battle of the Books team. These students read competition books, support each other in their reading, and work collaboratively at competitions.
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Team Captain: the Student Reader responsible for bringing all required materials to the District Battle for their team.
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Spectator: These people are family and friends of student readers who support them in Battle of the Books.
*Non-staff volunteers must be authorized by their school. See the Volunteer Authorization webpage or contact your school’s office staff for details.
How are battles structured?
School Battle
School Coordinators should register their intent to compete in Battle of the Books using the Battle of the Books: School Registration form by October 4, 2024 (Please register each grade level team individually using this form). Team Coaches can then begin meeting with students and develop their reading strategy (see Preparing for Battle on page 7). Schools can have as many teams of 5 students each as they have capacity for.
The School Coordinator is responsible for scheduling and hosting a School Battle in February 2025. This School Battle will determine which two teams of 5 students advance to the District Battle. School Coordinators will receive twenty-five (25) Battle questions for individual school competitions. Questions are all in the same format – “In what book...?”. Answers are always in the form of the title and author of the book. Competition format is at the discretion of the School Coordinator and Team Coach(es). After the School Battle is complete, School Coordinators register their team(s) for the District Battle using the Battle of the Books: District Registration form by March 1, 2025. Two teams of five students each can register to compete at the District competition.
District Battle
The District Battle is scheduled for March 29, 2025, exact time and location to be determined. Qualifying teams from schools compete during a designated time for their grade level. Teams must bring a computer to complete the Battle, which is hosted on Google Forms. Forty (40) questions in the format – “In what book...?” must be answered at the District Battle. Answers are always in the form of the title and author of the book. Each question will be read aloud once before timing begins. Teams then have 30 seconds to confer with their teammates and answer each question. Points are awarded based on the number of correctly answered questions. In the event of a tie, teams will answer additional questions to determine a winner.
Out of respect for competitors, spectators will not be allowed to enter a competition room. Team Coaches attempting to interfere with Student Readers during a Battle may disqualify their team from competing.
Who can be on a team?
Teams are composed of student readers from the same grade at a school site. Teams may also be formed by groups of students from the same homeschool grade. All team members should be active participants and read all of the books.
Teams competing at the District competition are made up of no more than 5 students from the same grade. Once a team has been formed and registered for the district competition, no changes can be made. A team may have one alternate on standby on the day of the District Battle. This alternate will only compete if a team member is unexpectedly unable to make the competition. If teams don’t have or choose not to have an alternate they can compete with fewer than five team members.
Who is responsible for the team?
The Team Coach is responsible for helping the team prepare for the battle. They also serve as a contact person for the team and will receive all relevant program information from the Planning Committee. A coaching guide is included in this toolkit (see page 8). A parent or other adult who is an authorized volunteer can serve as team coach, but it is up to the student readers to make sure that they read the books on the list. A team captain is also necessary for each team. This student reader will be responsible for bringing the appropriate materials to the District Battle for their team and for selecting the team’s response in the Google Form.
How are books selected for the book list?
Books are chosen by the committee members in the spring, prior to the end of the school year. Considerations when selecting titles for the list include reading level, popularity/appeal, diversity, awards received, promotion of excellent titles that may not be well known, the number of available copies of each title in the Loveland Public Library catalog, and availability of paperback, e-book, or audiobook copies.
Public and school libraries are encouraged to add the books on the list to their collections. The Loveland Public Library has made multiple copies of each book available. Locally, you can purchase used books at Book Haven, and thrift stores.
What will I need on the day of the battle?
Are there prizes?
A certificate will be awarded to every student who participates in Battle of the Books at every level. Student readers who place 1st, 2nd, or 3rd at the School Battle competition and student readers who place 1st, 2nd, or 3rd at the District Battle competition will als receive a prize. The grand prize for each grade level at the District Battle is a traveling trophy. Prizes are provided by Thompson School District.
Timeline
Fall 2024
- August
- Book list released
- Team registration begins
- Teams form and begin reading
- September
- See the section titled Preparing for Battle on page 7
- October
- October 4: Battle of the Books: School Registration form due
- November
- Practice questions released
Spring 2025
- January
- District Battle of the Books: Volunteer Sign-Up form opens
- February
- School Battle competitions held
- March
- March 1: Battle of the Books: District Registration form due
- March 29: District Battle competition held
- April
- Feedback gathered from School Coordinators, Team Coaches, Student Readers, and Community Members
- Feedback gathered from School Coordinators, Team Coaches, Student Readers, and Community Members
Team Rules
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Each team must have an adult coach. This may be an authorized volunteer parent/guardian or another adult that is able to coordinate between the team and the School Coordinator. The coach may also be the School Coordinator. For more information about coaching, visit the Role of the Team Coach section in this toolkit (see page 8).
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Teams must be registered by the School Coordinator by October 4 to participate in the Battle of the Books.
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Students may choose a name for their team. Names cannot include book titles or corresponding author names.
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Each team competing at the Battles are invited to bring a poster to represent their team. It may be helpful to create a poster as they choose their team name. Libraries can display these as they compete at their school battles!
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Poster Rules
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Teams must put their team name, grade, and school somewhere on the poster.
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Teams may not include any titles, authors, pictures of book covers, or any other important title information.
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Students may not be on more than one team.
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No more than 5 students from a grade level may form a team to compete at the District Battle. No substitutions or additions can be made to a team once it has been officially registered for the District Battle. A team may have one alternate on standby on the day of the District Battle. This alternate will only compete if a team member is unexpectedly unable to make the competition. If teams don’t have or choose not to have an alternate they can compete with fewer than five team members.
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One student reader must be appointed the Team Captain. During the battle, the team will confer with each other, but it is the captain that selects the answer in the Google Form. Teams may decide to split up the reading lists instead of everyone reading all the titles. It will be very important that all team members show up for all the matches if they choose this strategy.
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Only team captains may challenge whether a question might apply to more than one book. If there is a challenge, the judges will consult the page numbers referenced for the question. Team members have until the next question is asked to challenge a question. No challenges will be accepted after that time. At the end of the battle, the challenging team will be given 5 minutes to find their answer in the referenced book. If the error has been proven by consulting the books, both teams will receive credit for their answer.
Preparing for Battle
The Battle of the Books is primarily about literacy. The program aims to encourage students to read, broaden their reading interests by exposure to unfamiliar genres and authors, and increase reading comprehension. These tips are suggestions for engaging with this year’s selected titles.
- Set a practice schedule - decide how often you will meet as a team and plan to attend as many team meetings as possible.
- Track your progress - set up a team reading chart to monitor your progress on completing the book list.
- Take notes - keep notes about each book you read, writing important details like characters, setting, and plot points.
- Practice - use the practice questions to host your own mini-battles in school. Write your own battle questions and quiz your teammates during meetings.
- Review the rules - make sure your team has reviewed rules prior to School and District Battle competitions.
- Show good sportsmanship - win or lose, the Battle of the Books is all about reading and fun!
Resources
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Use these reading comprehension strategies to deepen your understanding of this year's books.
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Where to find books for competition
- Loveland Public Library
- Sora
- Your school library!
Role of the Coach
The Team Coach has many different jobs throughout the entire Battle of the Books season. The Team Coach will be responsible for checking their email regularly for important scheduling reminders and then reporting the reminders to the rest of the student readers. In the event of schedule changes, the Planning Committee will let the Team Coach know, and it is their responsibility to relay this information to their student readers.
Other roles that a Team Coach will fulfill:
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Discussion leader—make sure that each team member understands which books on the list they are expected to read. Coaches are encouraged to read the books too! Talk about the books with student readers —what did they like or dislike about each book? Why?
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Meeting facilitator—meet with the team regularly to offer encouragement, check on reading progress, foster team cohesiveness, and help team members remember details and facts from the books.
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Main contact point—act as the communicating link between student readers, and parent/guardian(s) with all information regarding the Battle of the Books. Please keep your School Coordinator informed of any problems or changes.
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Team supervisor at competitions—ensure that your team members and their families understand the rules and expectations, and make sure your team demonstrates sportsmanlike behavior during the battles. We request that Team Coaches be present during competition days to help contain the noise level while teams are waiting to compete. If you are unable to attend, please send an authorized substitute in your place.
Team Coaches can also help their team foster and maintain team spirit throughout the battle season. We want this to be a friendly and exciting competition for all involved! Methods of building team spirit may include:
- Decorating team t-shirts
- Wear the same color or item of clothing to battles
- Make a poster to display at your table during the battles
- Offer words of encouragement
- Serve snacks at meetings themed to the books
- Play a board game before you begin team meetings
- Have a pizza party or an ice cream outing at the completion of the season