Fifth and sixth graders from elementary schools across the district gathered last week at Mesquite Junior High to take part in the Gilbert Public Schools’ District Battle of the Books competition.
While Battle of the Books is a voluntary reading program intended to encourage students to read and have fun learning about books with their peers, students who advanced to the district competition were able to wow the audience with their expertise on the selected books.
All teams of two to three students were involved in their schools’ Battle of the Books clubs and activities; com
peting with peers and preparing themselves for the district-wide competition. At the conclusion of three battles at the school level, the winning team from each school heads to the district competition. While each of the three school battles focused on four books, the district competition will have questions on all 12.
This year's battle books are: "Chasing Vermer," "Doll Bones," "Frindle," "Healer of the Water Monster," "Invisible," "Jennifer Murdley's Toad," "Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key," "Maniac Magee," "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh," "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes," "Sarah Plain and Tall" and "The City of Ember."
The district competition has two types of questions.
Phase 1 asks students questions from the books and requires the correct book and author name to win points.
Phase 2 questions are worth double the points and the question is specific to the book, requiring knowledge of events, characters and other details to win points.
A perfect score for a battle would be 70 points. Usually, the district battle ends up with a few teams with perfect scores who must answer Phase 2 tiebreaker questions until a winner is determined.
That happened again this year. The top three teams all ended Phase I and Phase II with perfect scores.
After the first tiebreaker question Greenfield Elementary was declared the winner.
After the second tiebreaker question Neely Traditional Academy took second place with Islands Elementary in third place.
First place - Greenfield Elementary: Kaylee Bezy, Maycee Bezy, Norah Thompson, and Heather Meaux (librarian);
Second place - Neely Traditional Academy: Annika Johnson, Kyen Ding, Bridgette Hodges, and Kelli Fairchild (librarian);
Third place - Islands Elementary: Maci Ford Farra, Eliza Siders, and Allison Hunt (librarian).
Greenfield Elementary’s team will move on to regional competitions at the Chandler Public Library on May 7.
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