Newtown Students Compete in Battle of the Books

Dozens of people are packed inside the C.H. Booth Library Meeting Room on Saturday and yet few words pass between them.

Instead four teams of students sitting in the front are furiously scribbling notes to each other, heads bowed together. Sometimes they seem to reach agreement quickly. Other times, head shaking, brows furrowed and eyes widened, they express their dissension.

This is the scene of the sixth annual Battle of the Books, a competition for Newtown students in grades five through eight.

Students form teams of three to five and all commit to reading the four books selected for the competition. They then meet to battle it out, while siblings, extended family, friends and teammates who did not advance to the final round watch in rapt silence.

"It's a little intimidating, the way it's set up with all the people watching," participant Haley Williams, a sixth grader at Reed Intermediate School, says.

A question is read aloud, and teams have 30 seconds to give their answer.   As expected in a library, silence is golden. Teams are penalized for talking during their deliberations, so they find ways other than verbal communication.

 A timer eventually beeps, and Young Adult librarian Margaret Brown and Children's librarian Alana Bennison verify the answers, with correct ones earning a point.

In one case, students are asked what the girl at the flea market in Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life uses her keys to make.  The teams hold up their whiteboards and display their answers.  Two teams have the correct answer, "jewelry."  One writes "projects" and the third says "earrings."

"What does it say on the page listed with the question?  Do you have the book?  Does it say earrings anywhere?" Bennison asks the Young Adult Council members who are helping with the event. 

The tension builds as they shuffle to find the passage.

Bennison walks over, finds the listed passage herself and reads aloud from page 52: "Sometimes I make jewelry out of them, too.  See?'  She moves her long black hair away from one ear.  A tiny silver key dangles from a hook.  'It's from my diary in fifth grade!'"

A sigh of relief breaks out from the team with the "earrings" answer.

Earlier in the day, nine teams competed in the Jeopardy-style challenge for prizes of bookstore gift certificates and the honor of seeing their name posted on a plaque that hangs in the library department. Four teams then advanced to the final round.

"You make friends, and even if you are upset about the results, there's still that kinship," says Clare Boyle, the captain of the winning team The Souls who also participated last year.

A highlight of the event is a large sheet cake decorated with the book covers of this year's titles: Attack of the Turtle by Drew Carlson, Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass, and Paint the Wind by Pam Munoz Ryan.

"The cake – it's awesome!" says Newtown Middle School seventh-grader Sarah Greenwood, whose team The Greek Squad! finished in 3rd place, and who has participated in the Battle of the Books since she was first eligible in fifth grade.

"But seriously," she adds, "the community aspect is fun.  Everyone comes out to support us."

Each student left with a "like-new" book of their choice provided by the Friends of the Library.

In addition to Brown and Bennison, other volunteers responsible for making the event possible are John Renjilian and Liz Arneth, who learned of the idea from a librarian friend in Buffalo,  NY and then passed it along to Brown.

"They like to read, and they like contests," Brown says. "Those two things are a great combination for them."