What is Battle of the Books?
Battle of the Books is a tournament that mixes books, fun,team spirit, and friendly competition between schools in Burlington, Oakville, Milton, and Halton Hills.Local competitions are run within each municipality, and the local champions compete in a Regional Tournament.Winning teams are presented with a plaque to display in their school until the following year’s tournament.
Where are the competitions?
Local competitions are arranged by the public libraries serving Halton Region, usually in one of their own facilities or another nearby.Regional competitions take place on a rotating schedule during the first or second week in May.
When is Burlington Public Library’s competition?
The tournament takes place in April on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday mornings or afternoons until approximately 3pm (respecting the children’s school bus times).Schools may begin to practice for Battle of the Books at any time.Many schools that intend to enter the competition start practicing in the fall. Check Burlington Public Library’s website for study tips and resources:
When is registration?
Schools register teams early in the new year.Registration forms can be found on the library website.
Who can compete?
Schools can register one Junior Team and one Senior Team.Junior Teams are students from Grades 3 to 5, and Senior Teams are students from Grades 6 to 8.Each team is made up of 6 players and can have up to 3 substitutes, to a maximum of 9 students.This number must be strictly adhered to, to ensure fairness among teams.If there are any coaches or managers of the teams that are students themselves, it must be made clear that they are not participating in the actual competition.
- Junior Team:The six Junior Team players consist of two from each of grades 3, 4, and 5, and the substitutes are one from each of those grades.
- Senior Team:The six Senior Team players consist of two from each of grades 6, 7, and 8, and the substitutes are one from each of those grades.
If you do not have enough players from a certain grade, only players from lower grades may substitute.For example: if you have no grade 7 players, you can have more players from grade 6, but not from grade 8.
Preparation
The students do most of the preparation…reading books, learning authors’ names, and discovering Award Winning, Canadian, and Classic books.The coach helps direct and encourage the students.Coaches can be teachers, parent volunteers, or older students.
How do you play?
Teams compete to score points by identifying the titles, authors, and characters of books from questions based on the plots and settings of stories.
Only six team members play at one time, and one of those players must be the designated spokesperson.Although all team members discuss the possible answers, the spokesperson is the one who gives the team answer.
Questions
Teams are asked an equal number of questions.Questions are addressed to the teams alternately regardless of which team gave the last correct answer.
Each round consists of questions from any of the following categories:Award Winning, Canadian, Classic, Character, Popular, Folk/Fairy tale (juniors), Myth/Legend (seniors), New books, Picture books (juniors), Mystery, Fantasy.
Sample Question:In which book does a spider befriend a young pig, and make him famous at the fair?
Theanswer is Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
Answers
A team has 30 seconds to give the title and/or the authorof the book.You do not need to know the title to try for author points, or vice versa.Character questions only require the name of the character (The same applies for folk/fairytales, and myths/legends).
The question is asked once and then the timing starts.During this time, the team may ask to have the question repeated, and may give as many guesses as it wishes through the spokesperson.
If, at the end of 30 seconds, the team is not able to answer correctly, the opposing team has a chance to answer, but must give their answer immediately.The question will not be repeated for the opposing team and they will not have any time allowance. If Team A has correctly given the title, then Team B may give the author(or vice versa). Author surnames are sufficient, and in the case of joint authorship, either surname will be accepted.
In the case of a questionable answer, the Moderator’s decision is final.
Scoring
5 points are given to the team correctly identifying the title.
3 points are given to the team correctly identifying the author’s surname.
5 points are given for a character, folk/fairytale, or myth/legend correct answer.
2 points are given when the opposing team correctly answers the title, or a character, folk/fairytale or myth/legend.
1 point is given when the opposing team correctly answers the author’s surname.
There is no penalty for guessing.
In the event of a tie, teams are asked tie-breaker questions until the tie is broken.
If you have any questions about Battle of the Books, please call Vivienne Mathers, Junior Team coordinator, 905.639.3611 ext 1203 or Tammy Csajaghy, Senior Team coordinator, ext 1204.