Jan Jones Blackhurst Library Media Center

Battle of the Books

What is Battle of the Books?

"Battle of the Books is a fun Jeopardy® style competition for 4th and 5th graders held each spring. The Clark County School District now has over sixty schools competing. Students create teams in the fall, and each team has to read eight pre-selected books. The books chosen are the most recent six Nevada Young Reader Nominees, the Siebert Medal Winner and the Newberry Winner. Librarians work together to write questions and create game boards for the books. Then in March and April, school level competitions are held. Each team competes against another team for two rounds. Then the field is narrowed using total points earned. A school winner is determined after several rounds. That team then competes at the CCSD competition. It is a fun program for students who love to read, teaches them teamwork, and helps them focus on details in a story."

-CCSLA

How do students participate?

Students create teams of 4 with friends, classmates or other students at the first meeting. Teams assign books to each other to read, each book should be read by at least 2 team members, therefore, each student will read at least 4 of the 8 books. Team members should know they books very well! While reading these books, focus on small details of the story, taking notes as you read.

HOW THE BATTLES WILL RUN…

The battles will be in a Jeopardy-style board, although you will not need to phrase your answer in question format.
You will not have to buzz in your answer. Each team will take a turn choosing and answering their questions.
The team that goes first will be determined by coin flip.
You will have 30 seconds after the question is read to answer your questions.
Only the team captain can give the team’s answers.
You will not be allowed to have any study materials on the table. You will be allowed a blank piece of paper to write notes to the team captain.
If you do not answer your question correctly within the 30 seconds, the other team has a chance to steal the points. They will have 10 seconds in which to answer. Whether they get the questions correct or not, they will then take their turn.
When all of the questions have been answered, the team with the highest number of points will be declared the winner.
If the round ends in a tie, a tie breaker question will determine the winner. No points are awarded for tie breaker questions.

HOW THE TEAMS ARE ELIMINATED…

We will hold two preliminary rounds called mini-battles, and your scores from these two rounds will be added together.
Teams are chosen randomly. However, you cannot play the same team in both mini-battles.
The top four teams will advance to the semi-final battle.
The winners of the semi-final battle will advance to the final battle.
The team that wins the final battle will be declared the school winner of the Battle of the Books!

Where do students get books?

JJB Library

Battle of the Books titles will be provided to the students to borrow. There will be six copies of each title, therefore students are encouraged to read them in a timely manner to ensure each student has a chance to use the books.

Amazon

If you would like to have your own copies of the books you are reading you can purchase your own

Public Library

These titles may also be checked out from your local public libraries in Clark County, but also may be limited.

EBooks

You may also borrow ebooks from the public library systems using Overdrive, Libby, Axis360 or any other ebook provider.

2024-2025 Battle of the Books

Important Dates

The first initial meeting will discuss many questions you have about Battle of the Books requirements, rules and expectations. At this initial first meeting, we will create teams and talk about skills you can practice to be most successful.

Team meetings are optional but encouraged. At these meetings, we will talk about reading skills you can use during their reading, and teams will spend most of the time working with their group independently. Teams discuss the books and strategies on how to retain the most information about the books, and may practice battling or quizzing each other on the books you have agreed upon.

Battles will be conducted in classrooms in the school and monitored by staff members. Parents are invited to these battles, and encouraged to support their student, however, parents or family members can only be part of the audience and cannot influence student answers in any way, to ensure a fair battle. Teams will compete against each other for points, and the teams with the most points move onto Round 3 and 4. Teams who are not in Round 3 or 4 do not have to attend these battles. The last two teams will go on to the School Finals, and will be in the Multipurpose Room in front of the school. The last remaining team will go on to the Regional Finals at a school close to Jones Blackhurst.