Battle of the Books is a friendly academic competition sponsored by the NC School Library Media Association to encourage reading a variety of books. Teams from different schools across the state will all read from the same list of pre-selected books, meet and discuss them, and then challenge one another to see who knows more about the books from the reading list. The competition is offered at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, with each age group having a unique reading list. To prepare, middle school students will read 16 books that have been selected by the NC School Library Media Association for this year.  Students will work as a team and individually to test their recall of the books on their respective reading lists. Competitors will need to know the titles of the books questions were referring to, as well as the name of the authors to receive full credit for their answer.  In February students will compete with other schools across Gaston County to test their knowledge of the book.  1st, 2nd, & 3rd place winners will receive a trophy for their school.  The team that gets 1st place will then go on to compete at the regional level.