For the past eight months, students from around the diocese
have been working their way through a list of 15 books,
reading in their free time and meeting weekly with classmates
and teachers to discuss what they’ve learned.
All those hours of preparation built to an epic conclusion
May 21, as students from 19 local Catholic schools gathered
in Arlington for this year’s Battle of the Books. Now in its
25th year, the Battle of the Books is a three-part
competition that tests fifth- and sixth-graders on their
reading comprehension skills through written, verbal and
essay questions. The competition, which took place at the
Edward Douglass White Knights of Columbus Council Home, was
organized by local Catholic school librarians, with
assistance from the diocesan Office of Catholic Schools.
Since September, student competitors have each read books
spanning several genres, including humor, fantasy, historical
fiction, classics, mystery and nonfiction. During the
competition in Arlington, representatives from the Office of
Catholic Schools asked students questions about each book. A
team of librarians served as judges, awarding each team as
many as 12 points per answer.
According to Karen Kelly, librarian from St. Mary School in
Alexandria, the purpose of the Battle of the Books program is
to get students excited about reading.
“I think all of us would agree, we want students to leave the
Battle of the Books program with a love of reading and an
exposure to a wide range of genres,” Kelly said.
Kathie DeGeorges, librarian at St. James School in Falls
Church, echoed that idea, saying the program encourages
students to pick up books they might normally never choose to
read.
“Kids get into reading and they might want to only read one
kind of book, but we pull in classics” and other types of
books, she said. “We might have kids that might only read
fantasy, but they find that they like realistic fiction or
historical fiction.”
At the end of the competition, St. James School was named the
grand champion and rewarded with a Battle of the Books banner
to hang in their school.
Vickie Coyle, librarian at All Saints School in Manassas,
also hoped they will bring something else home with them as
well – an excitement about reading.
“This is really a reading program to enrich their love of
literature,” she said. “It’s all about literature, all about
reading and promoting good books to the kids.”
Bahr can be reached on Twitter @KBahrACH.
