Many states, counties and local school districts hold yearly competitions in a quiz bowl format based on their state award books. These competitions are often called “the Battle of the Books” or the “Book Battle”. For example, in my home state of Florida each year there are a selection of books chosen as “Sunshine State Young Reader Award” (SSYRA) books. There are 15 books chosen for third to fifth grade readers, and a set for sixth to eighth graders. For the high school level, fifteen “Florida Teens Read” titles are chosen. Each of these sets of book are promoted state wide and local school districts choose their own method of using the books. Many districts chose to hold a “Battle of the Books” among all the schools at each level. This article will tell you how to help your child be successful in your own Battle of the Books or similar competition.
First, let me offer some background as to why I am qualified to tell you how to succeed in the Battle of the Books. I have been a school librarian in central Florida for ten years, and have participated in the Battle of the Books for eight of those years. I have coached several school teams to the regional competition, as well as a handful to the finals. I have had two teams come in second place (among dozens of schools) in the Battle of the Books finals. I have also organized and run a Battle of the Books reading club at the middle school level that had over a hundred students participating.
Near the end of each school year, a committee releases the titles that will be included in the state book awards. These titles are the books that are used in the Battle of the Books for the following school year. You can find out which books are state award books in your state by asking a school librarian, public library staff or bookstore staff. You can also search online by entering your state name and “award books” in a search engine. If you would like to see which books are award books for other states as well, take a look at the following website which offers links to many state book award homepages: http://www.mcelmeel.com/curriculum/bookawards.html
Once you have the list of state award books for your state in hand, it’s time to start actually getting the books so that your child can start reading them. The best option is to purchase a set of the books to keep for later review, but this can be a costly undertaking so often other methods are more realistic. If you do choose to purchase a set of the books there are several options. You can purchase the books individually from an online retailer such as Amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com, who will deliver them to your home quickly and easily. You may also find that local bookstores offer displays of the state award books for ease of purchase; most notably Borders Books tends to do this each year. Another option is to put the books on hold through your local public library. This is the method that I use each year to read the state award books. You may find that there are long waiting lists for these titles, but remember that your child has plenty of time (often, around 9 months) to read the books. Start reading the books as soon as possible after the list is released, most state include 12 to 15 books each year and it can take considerable time to read that many books. Additionally, once the new school year starts students can put the books on hold through their school library. Many school libraries offer multiple copies of the state award books so the waiting lists may be shorter. Lastly, a handful of the state award books may be available from school and public libraries as books on compact disc. If you are going on a family road trip over the summer, your child can “read” a few of the state award books by listening to the books on compact disc in the car as you drive. Similarly, some libraries offer books on downloadable MP3 files that can be listened to on an iPod or similar device on plane trips.
After gathering some or all of the state award books through either purchase or borrowing them from the library, it’s time to get down to the actual meat of the matter- reading the books! Set aside a certain amount of time each day for your child to read, perhaps shortly before bedtime or after dinner. By consistently using this time to read the state award books, they should make steady progress on finishing the books. You will likely find that the book range greatly in reading levels, with some seeming like “fluff” novels while others may be quite challenging. The books are chosen for the state award lists in this way to allow for readers of all ability levels to participate. As your child finishes each book, allow them some method to reflect on the book and generate a document that they can review later in the year as the Battle of the Books approaches. As I finish each book, I use a template on Microsoft Word to note the title, author, number of pages, main characters, setting and basic plot points. I also do an internet search and note if the author maintains a website, if there are teacher’s guides or lesson plans online about the book, and add a photo of the book’s cover to the document. I include a list of “key words” that are related to the plot of the book. I found this to be very helpful to my Battle of the Books teams because even if they didn’t know the answer to a question in the competition, often they would pick up a key word in the question that allowed them to answer it correctly. I also create a set of ten questions about the book that can be answered by either the book’s title or author. For example: “In the book by which author did Percy attend Camp Half-Blood?” (The answer is Rick Riordan.) Once your child has finished several of the books, these questions can be used to review the titles and authors in a manner similar to the format of the final competition. In fact, if your state has 15 books on it’s state award list, by creating 10 questions immediately after reading each book you will have a bank of 150 questions to practice with- an excellent resource in preparing for the Battle of the Books. Lastly, after reading each book I made a flash card which lists the title of the book on the front and the author on the back. It is vital for readers to be able to match the author to the title of the book, as in many states nearly half of the competition questions are based on correctly naming the authors of the books.
Congratulations, your child has read all of the state award books for this school year. Now what do you do to turn that reading into success at the Battle of the Books competition? Many school boards have a qualifying test to choose the students who will make up the school Battle of the Books teams in the early spring. You child should have several resources that will help them prepare for the qualifying test. First, the documents written about each book immediately after it was read are perfect for reviewing and bringing details back to mind. Pay special attention to the characters, setting, plot points and key words. Next, the 10 questions created after reading each book will keep the details of the books clear in your student’s mind. Remember, if you did ten after each book you should have over a hundred questions to choose from. Lastly, use the title and author flashcards to ensure that your child has a very solid grasp on the authors of each book. I’ve seen many students read every single state award book in a school year but fail to succeed on the qualifying test to make the Battle of the Books team because they can’t match the authors to the books- knowing the authors is vital.
The qualifying test is the last roadblock before the real quiz bowl type competition starts. If your child has made the team for their class or school, there are a few more things to do to increase their chances of success in the Battle of the Books. Continue reviewing all of your resources with your child, and if there is time your child may want to reread or relisten to some of the books on compact disc or MP3. Ask your child’s school librarian about the format of the competition. Some competitions use a buzzer scoring system that takes a bit of getting used to, so if you child can practice with it in advance it would be a great benefit to them. Often, the school librarian can borrow a buzzer system from the school board to allow the team to practice using it. This is valuable practice, and very worth the time and effort required as proper use of the buzzer system can make a significant difference in the points awarded (or not awarded) to a team.
Good luck in your child’s quest to succeed in the Battle of the Books! Remember that the most important part of the state award books program is that children enjoy reading, so avoid putting too much pressure on your student. If you find that they do excel at reading the state award books, encourage them to participate in the Battle of the Books or a similar program and encourage a lifelong love of reading.
