Battle of the Books

[Cassie Tadisch]

I am going to be starting my first year as a high school LMS in the fall, and I wanted to try organizing a Battle of the Books team. Has anyone else done this in a high school, and if so, what tips or advice would you offer? I'm not really sure where to begin!

[Karen Bell]

Cassie,
I'm interested in seeing your results. I've been in a high school for three years and would also like to organize a Battle of the Books. Sorry I couldn't help you out, but I'm certainly glad you posed the question.

[bmayer]

We do something like this in my district, PageTurners. We get two lists of books to read. One for a winter competition and one for a spring. I can say that having web page or other electronic forum for the students to submit questions and study independently in school and outside of school has been very well received by my kids. I do a web page with the questions we submit for the competition.
We do Power Point Jeopardy throughout the year to practice. We also have the kids create a presentation on one of the books they are reading and share it with the class. Most kids won't read all the books, so this helps give them some exposure to ones they haven't.. hey you never know what will stick :P

[Cassie Tadisch]

Thanks for the tips! How did you get students interested initially? Are there any incentives for them to join the team (prizes, extra credit, etc), or is it just those who already love to read? It just seems like ths type of competition might be a hard sell at the high school level.

[bmayer]

Food, Food, Food... no really, if you keep it fun and sell it at the end of the year for the up coming year you will get a decent turnout. I have had interested members do recruiting on their own as well.
Oh yeah, and food :P

[guybrarian]

I still wondering what a Battle of the Books is, and what it might look like! Thanks!

[Tracy Richards]

Is Battle of the Books similar to Book Survivor? I start off with a group of books (with multiple copies) and then books are voted off the wall....until there is only one! :-) I try to time it to the season opener of Survivor and try to get as many kids as possible interested....

Tracy

[Cassie Tadisch]

A Battle of the Books involves a set list of titles that teams are to read. Most teams will spilt up the list so each member doesn't have to read every title. The team uses practice questions and other activities to get ready and become familiar with the books, and then the competition takes place sometime near the beginning of 2nd semester. There are different ways to conduct the actual competition, but here in Wisconsin, the final competition is statewide and teams simply log into a site right from their own school and answer the questions. Questions are in the form of "In this book..." They have to answer with the complete title and author of the book (correctly spelled to receive credit). There are several websites that give more details or ideas for conducting a Battle. Here's info for Wisconsin: http://www.wemaonline.org/ev.bb.overview.cfm

[guybrarian]

Thanks Cassie- this really helps. It sounds quite interesting!

[Randy de Jong]

Here is the site for American Battle of the Books: American Battle of the Books
Hopefully this will give you any information you need.

[Joan Tracy]

Tracy,
This sounds like a great idea. Thanks

[Nina Franco]

Hi, Cassie,

I have been thiking about doing a Battle of the Books with my students too! Thank you for posting this question. And thanks to everyone who has shared links.