Battle of the Books

She wipes the sweat off of her forehead, looking to her teammates for some type of help; but, she knows she has to do this on her own. Her mind is reeling with multiple possibilities for the answer, trying to find what book they are referring to. The timer is ticking, and the judges stare cold at her table. She has to answer quick. Seeking, the answer is from the the very last book she read. So simple. She smiles as the answer easily slips through her mouth.

We have many after-school activities that get recognized throughout the school year: Sports, FFA, Theatre, etc. There is one recognition, however, that has yet to be addressed. That activity is: The Battle of the Books

This was the first year North Scott partook in The Battle of the Books, also known as: BOTB. This year, current students participated in the Eastern Iowa Regional H.S Battle of the Books. Usually put on by a library closely located, it was held by the Bettendorf Public Library this Spring. Although this is not the only BOTB in Iowa. There is also the Iowa State BOTB. Iowa State requires you to read over 30 books, while the Eastern Iowa BOTB requires you to read 12 books. Some of these books include: The Storyteller, Forgive Me, The Scorpio Races, and many more.

In the beginning of this year when the leader ,Mrs. Brow, advertised for the Battle; there were a total of 13 interested students. After a couple of meetings, however, the team was down to only 9 students. The team was easily able to divide up into 3 teams, where they then started to meet once a month to discuss the books they were reading. From there, each team divided up into who was going to read what.

The three teams competed against two other schools: Davenport West and PV (who each had two teams, creating seven in total)

North Scott teams included:

Titans of Text: Alauna Gentz, Dana Jamison, and Nick Upmeyer

Shakespeare’s Homies: Haley Bayers, Abby Kakac, and Mackenzie Weggen

F.B.I (Friends with Book Intelligence): Kailee Hamilton, Makailyn Ries, and Hannah Schipper

Since this was the first year that North Scott competed, students did not have a set process in place. Instead, Mrs. Brown just took anyone who enjoys reading and worked with them to help prepare for the competition.

Mrs. Brown stated in an interview, “In the future, if we have more teams from North Scott who want to participate we will have to have a school wide competition first to narrow down the teams that can go to the main battle. The hardest thing about battle of the books is reading all of the books. Some of them did not appeal to certain students, but someone from each team had to read it. I know that I personally had trouble getting through a couple of them. The majority of the books were really good though. Also, everybody's schedules made it hard to meet. Many of the students were involved in sports and other clubs as well. It was a commitment and all team members held to that”.

Even though this was only the first year for North Scott, we went home with pride. The Titans of Text won 1st place in the competition, along with Shakespeare's Homies coming in 4th.

Congratulations to the winners of The Battle of the Books, and we hope to see more participants next year!

She wipes the sweat off of her forehead, looking to the clock. 50 seconds left. Her eyes watch for her teammates, hoping one of them will be open soon. She dribbles the ball up and down, trying to buy herself time. 30 seconds left. Her mind twists around the possibilities- she has to take the shot. Her knees bend, arms extended, till she feels the basketball slip from her fingers. A smile spreads on her face as she hears the swoosh of the net and the buzzer following.