Resources
2024 Book List
OBOB Facebook Group
Additional practice questions, strategizing tips, and more!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/138437506195503/
Note to Caregivers
OBOB is a student activity that should be student driven. To the extent possible, let the kids run their own teams and decide who will read which books.
Adult coaches are facilitators (finding practice questions, encouraging kids to write practice questions, helping kids set up practice sessions, facilitating practice sessions, etc.) and guides. Here’s a VERY helpful guide.
Encourage teamwork, compassion and fun – competition is secondary.
Please respect volunteer moderators, timekeepers and scorekeepers.
Role model good sportsmanship.
Rules and More
School battles will follow OBOB official rules (relevant section starts on page 7).
Spokesperson: students can rotate each battle or one student can be the spokesperson at all battles.
Alternates generally rotate every battle; to request an accommodation for a team member with a specific need, please contact the OBOB Coordinating Committee.
Pronunciation must be plausible; here is the title list with pronunciations and a general author/illustrator pronunciation guide.
Titles and authors are available on the OBOB official site.
TEAMS
Once you know who is on your team, it is up to those kids to communicate together with teammates to figure out how you want to prepare for Battle of the Books.
Each team has a spokesperson for each battle. That person can be the spokesperson for all of the battles OR a different person can be spokesperson for each battle. Each team gets to decide, depending on how many teammates want to be spokesperson. Decide early on if you want to have just one spokesperson, or if you are going to rotate. Don’t decide right before the battle, be sure to have decided as a team early on.
Some teams have 5 kids. Only 4 kids can battle at a time on a team. If your team has 5 kids, then one of you will be the alternate and must sit in the audience and watch during a battle. The alternate must be a different kid every time, so that everyone gets a chance to participate. You cannot have a “designated alternate.”
What happens if some of your teammates are absent during a battle? You battle with the teammate who are there. We can't postpone battles because people are missing.
PREPARING
What’s the best way to get ready for Battle of the Books? Read! That’s the best thing to do. Some teams like to divide up the books, to make sure that someone from the team has read the entire book list. That is up to each team.
The teams who typically do the best have read all of the books. But there is no rule about reading all of the books. It’s important that teammates communicate with each other about reading the OBOB books. If you are having trouble finding a book or finishing a book, then tell your team and see if someone else can read that book.
What happens if your team doesn’t read all of the books? If you get asked a question about that book in a battle, you’ll probably miss the question. That’s OK, remember the success in OBOB is in reading and being good teammates.
There are unofficial OBOB practice questions available from Cedar Mill & Bethany Community Library and Lake Oswego Public Library, as well as parent/student created questions available on Quizlet and Kahoot.
It can be helpful to practice with these questions to get a feel for how questions are phrased and how to answer. And if it is your first time in OBOB, they might give you an idea of the kinds of things to look for in reading.
EXPLORE & HAVE FUN!
In competitions, we can sometimes lose focus on why we are here. We are here to celebrate reading, celebrate our teammates and the process of getting to the battles. Not on the outcome of our battles.
Caregivers, please help your kids to focus less on competition and more on reading and good sportsmanship.
If you have read a book that you otherwise would not have read, that is a success!
A great thing about OBOB is that you get a chance to try out different kinds of books than you might normally choose for yourself. The OBOB book list has biography, fantasy, adventure, historical fiction... genres that you might not have tried if it weren’t for OBOB!
Everyone wins if they…
Read more books than they otherwise would have
Read a new genre
Support their teammates (even if they say the wrong answer)
Are good sports to their opponents
Have fun!
Encourage Teamwork
What makes a successful teammate?
Cooperation
Communication
Good patience
Everyone does their part as an individual to do great as a whole.
Supportive of teammates. Some days we do really well on a team and other days we might be having a bad day. When those bad days happen, we really need to support each other. When your teammate answers a question wrong, it’s really important to let them know that it’s ok, that you’re glad that you are all part of the same team.