Any bibliophile will affirm that reading a great book is its own reward. But what if reading great books could also lead to a championship title in reading?
That’s exactly what Idaho Battle of the Books provides – an opportunity for elementary and middle school students to diversify their reading lists and then compete in a trivia contest based on the selected titles. A group of avid readers from Lone Star Middle School recently did just that, becoming the first team from a Nampa school to compete in the program.
The Lone Star book club, the Page Turners, is an after-school extracurricular activity run by language arts teachers Brianna Walker and Casey Weissenbach. Students meet regularly to discuss the 16 books on the IBOB reading list (each student averaged around five books read for the year) and compete in teams of four to five kids to answer questions about the title, author or plot.
Three Lone Star teams competed for a chance at regionals. In the end, the Book Wizards beat out both the Bibliophiles and Quartet.
Idaho Battle of the Books, or simply IBOB, exposes students to quality literature that can move them beyond their normal genres, literary styles or viewpoints. It also allows them to receive recognition for their passion and, in the case of the recent regional competition held in Meridian, meet one of the real-life authors from their reading list.
Learn more about IBOB at https://idahobattleofthebooks.org.