Last Updated on March 23, 2023 10:26 am
BOONE — Watauga County Schools’ most-enthusiastic readers met last week to test their skills at the district-wide Battle of the Books competition. Teams from Hardin Park School took home the win in both the middle and elementary contests.
A long-standing tradition in Watauga County Schools, each year Battle of the Books tasks teams from each school in the district to a competition that tests students' ability to recall specific details and answer questions on books from a state-promoted list they’ve read over the past year. Each team plays every other team once in the competition and each round consists of 12 questions — six posed to each team.
The questions require students to identify the book in which a specific scene, event, quote or character appears. If a team provides the correct title and author of the book, they are awarded three points. If they miss, the other team has one chance to answer the question and can win two points for a correct title response. The winning team is determined on the basis of total points scored in all rounds combined.
With their win at the district contest, Hardin Park’s Elementary team will go on to compete in the Elementary School Battle of the Books Regional Competition on April 27 in Caldwell County. The Middle School Team will represent the district at the regional Middle School Battle of the Books Contest on Tuesday, March 28th at Appalachian State.
The Hardin Park Middle School Battle of the Books team is made up of Ashika Paudel, Ria Titus, Willa Sibley, Roz Rabinowitz, Sofia McEvoy, Selah Greer, Aspen Hickman and Annabelle Babb. The Elementary Team is Oscar McEvoy, Nathaniel Hankins, Ricky Saylors, Ezra Freed, Rohan Parry, Lucy Krause, Maggie Schlake, Aiden Smith and Mackenzie Norris.
Battle of the Books is made possible by a $2,000 grant from the Watauga Education Foundation that is divided equally between all nine schools. The funds are used to purchase books found on the North Carolina School Library Media Association Battle of the Books elementary, middle, and high school lists each year.
The Hardin Park Middle School Battle of the Books team is Ashika Paudel, Ria Titus, Willa Sibley, Roz Rabinowitz, Sofia McEvoy, Selah Greer, Aspen Hickman and Annabelle Babb.
The Hardin Park Elementary Team is Oscar McEvoy, Nathaniel Hankins, Ricky Saylors, Ezra Freed, Rohan Parry, Lucy Krause, Maggie Schlake, Aiden Smith and Mackenzie Norris.
