The Fall City Elementary School library was packed with people, students and adults, and a nervous tension is in the air. Students sitting on the floor held construction paper pennants and poster boards with team names on them.
“In which book does a character eat a delicious shelled fruit called a rambutan?” librarian Meg Handy asked April 26.
The students at the tables, five teams of five students, huddle together, whispering.
“’Kensuke’s Kingdom!’” Handy said, 40 seconds later.
Poster boards are waved as some of the students quietly whisper, “Yes.”
Students were competing in the final Battle of the Books, the culmination of a contest that has been running since December.
Every spring for the past 13 years, librarians from Snoqualmie Elementary, Fall City Elementary, North Bend Elementary, Cascade View Elementary and Opstad Elementary schools have gotten together to choose 12 books, which will become part of the Battle of the Books. The lists are sent home over the summer and students form teams at each school in December.
“We try to pick books they wouldn’t normally pick up,” said Meg Healy, librarian at Fall City Elementary.
Healy said the librarians start by looking at books that are nominated for an award for the coming year, choosing a variety of genres, including historical fiction, fantasy and nonfiction.
At Fall City Elementary, the competition started with 24 teams, a total of 120 students. The teams at each of the participating schools were slowly eliminated until each school had a “final four” competition. The top teams of every school faced each other in the final battle to see who would win the trophy this year.
After 40 questions, team Dynomite from Fall City Elementary and the Book Battlers from Snoqualmie Elementary School were tied for first place.
“We’ve never had a tie for first before,” Healy said to the watching parents and students.
The two teams answered five questions, and Dynomite came out as the winning team.
Team members Will Desler, Chloe Barber, Lorenzo Perez, Luke Nieman and Oliver Lang jumped out of their chairs, cheering when they won. Fall City hasn’t had the trophy in several years, Healy said, so this was an especially exciting win for the school.
Barber, who is in fourth grade and was in charge of writing the answer for her team, said her favorite book was “Peter and the Starcatchers,” by Dave Berry and Ridley Pearson. Since the students are not allowed to read any other books during the competition, Barber said she is excited to get back to reading what she wants again.
“I read pretty much every day,” she said.
Desler, a fourth-grade student who has been deaf since birth, said the competitions were sometimes difficult for him. Desler has a cochlear implant, which allows him to hear, but he is still hard of hearing, which sometimes made it difficult for him to hear the questions.
“The librarian has to speak louder,” he said. “If I didn’t hear the question she has to show me the card, and some people think she’s showing me the answer.”
Desler said he got used to the process quickly, and his favorite part of the whole competition was getting a question right, and the satisfaction of knowing the correct answer.
Healy said she notices an increase in students coming into the library to check out books while the Battle of the Books is going on.
“I love the enthusiasm for reading that happens with the Battle of the Books,” Healy said. “The kids are putting books on hold and can’t wait for them to come in.”
Megg Joosten: 392-6434, ext. 221, or [email protected]. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.
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