Students participating read as many as 25 books between September and February. We know that one of the best ways to become smarter is to read. One of the most memorable teams named themselves “My Favorite Students of All Time,” so that each time I read them a question I had to say, “And the next question goes to My Favorite Students of All Time.” The teams come up with their own team names each year names that represent them. Those who participate for multiple years recognize the value of having more than one team member read each book. Students learn to accept and honor the reading styles and preferences of their teammates. Although most teams start by splitting the number of books to be read evenly, students learn to accommodate and shift responsibility for particular titles as life happens over those six months. They talk about the books and recommend ones they have read to others. In their teams of three, students attend monthly strategy meetings. Finally, we ensure that our list has books representing a range of difficulty so that everyone can participate and be challenged. ![]() We seek out books representing multiple perspectives to ensure all students both see themselves and gain insight into the experience of others. Every year, we add at least one book to the list our students’ parents were likely to have read in middle school, hoping to spark nostalgia and conversation at home. To that list, we choose a few books that represent the first in a series (hoping to get kids hooked), a few graphic novels, a couple of sports books, and a nonfiction title or two. This list always offers a wide variety of genres and styles of writing. We select our books for our yearly list with an eye toward ”something for everyone.” Our list starts with the Minnesota Maud Hart Lovelace Award nominees to ensure books are available and likely to have been read by many other educators. ![]() The following are four areas in which these battles of the books have had an impact on our students far beyond our initial goal. In hindsight, we recognize these battles have impacted our students far beyond that initial goal. ![]() About 10 years ago, we started Battle of the Books merely to get kids reading and talking about books they might not normally choose. It’s a shared reading experience of epic proportions. If you are unfamiliar with the Battle of the Books, it is a massive book trivia contest in which participants battle in teams of three to answer questions about a list of 25 books everyone has read. Each year, our district middle schools participate in the Battle of the Books.
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