The adrenaline was high, palms were sweaty, and two teams were ready to answer any question that was fired. An intense atmosphere engulfed the two Battle of the Books teams as RJ Reynolds and Mt. Tabor viciously faced off for the winning trophy. 

The Battle of the Books competition was the most noteworthy competition so far in the district. It was an all-day event with eight schools that held the most competitive scholars. 

“There was a nice big room that we camped out in when we weren’t competing,” Ms. Higgins, the Librarian and Sponsor of the club said. “We actually were sitting at the table and continuing to quiz each other. Plus, we had fun just doing stuff. It was a full day.”

The competition was close towards the end, with both Tabor and Reynolds fighting to win points to get ahead of each other. All the schools worked hard to win the district trophy and go off to regionals. 

“We got three in a row; we ended up winning by five,” Ms. Higgins said. “It was that the whole round was neck and neck. It was nerve-wracking watching, but it was exciting. I was just so shocked.”

The Reynolds Battle of the Books team will compete in regionals in April to compete against more teams and after that: states. This is the first year that regionals have taken place since Coronavirus. This is also the very first year the state competition has been offered, making this a big deal for all competing teams. 

Battle of the Books is an intensive club that focuses on memorizing details in books in order to compete on varying questions from certain books.

“It’s basically just a lot of reading,” senior Sofia Domenech said. “I mean, I read about seven or eight books, other people read less. One girl read 10 books; it’s just devoting that amount of time to it.”

 Some people believe that the club requires you to read a whole book list, but that’s untrue. Each student will read about two books, so everyone knows at least one book. Every year, a new list entails every book that needs to be read. 

“There’s a list of about sixteen or eighteen books and we’re supposed to read them or read a certain amount of them and then practice questions on them,” Domenech said. “You get two points for getting the title correct and then one point for getting the author correct. It’s just trying to memorize as much of the book as you can.” 

Practice makes perfect, which is what the club focuses on after reading the books. With limited practice days, any time to get work in is good. 

“I do a lot of quizzing with them and practice the time; they only have about twenty seconds to answer and I sort of coach them how to listen to each other,” Higgins said.

The Battle of the Books team now will go off to regionals, with the hope of a win in mind. Teamwork, practice, and trust are what it takes to be successful and this team shows exactly how all of those attributes make the group succeed. Let’s hope this next competition is a page-turner.