The Rules
The Battle of the Books is a competition between school teams made up of four to six players. A list of book titles and authors is given to each competing school, and students read the books in preparation for the contest. There are two levels of competition: 4-6 grade and 7-8 grade, each with their own list of 15 titles and 1 digital book, accessed from the International Children's Digital Library. During the competition, teams earnpoints by correctly answering a question about the books, and may earn additional points by identifying the author, both first and last name. Each team will compete three times during the morning of the competition; the three teams at each level who have accumulated the most points will become finalists. Finalists will compete after lunch for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place trophies.
In each competition, there will be questions about characters, plots and settings as follows:
:: Each team is asked 20 questions, with
questions asked in an alternating fashion.
:: The team is given 45 seconds to begin giving
its answer.
:: Team members are encouraged to consult with
each other, but only the team captain answer.
:: Each correct answer is worth 5 points, the
author's first and last name is worth 2 additional
points.
Battle of the Books Rules
1. Teams are represented by 4-6 players.
2. An alternate may substitute for a player only at the end of a competition, except in case of emergency. The moderator/judge will determine what constitutes an emergency.
3. Correct answers are determined by the moderator/ judge and his or her decision is final.
4. All acceptable answers will be on the moderator/ judge's answer sheet.
5. If names are mispronounced, they will be accepted if they are recognizable as a correct answer. The moderator/judge's decision is final.
6. If there is a challenge to the answer, the moderator/ judge will ask for the books to be brought to the room to verify the answer. If the challenge cannot be resolved, the moderator/judge will discard the question and go to the next question.
7. If any official hears an answer coming from the audience or from other team members, the moderator/judge may decide to discard the question and ask another. Teams may be disqualified for soliciting help from the audience, coaches, or alternates or for engaging in other forms of cheating. The moderator/judge will make disqualification decisions, and the moderator/judge's decision is final.
8. No points are deducted for wrong answers.
9. The three teams with the most points at the end of the three preliminary rounds will advance to the finals.
10. The team, at each level, with the most points at the end of the final round wins the competition.
Please keep in mind that if a team answers a question correctly, they will be asked for the author's first and last name. If they answer both the first and last name of the author correctly, they will gain 2 extra bonus points - so remind your students to study the author's names as well as the title and the book content.
Here is an author's name pronunciation guide that may help... www.teachingbooks.net/pronunciations.cgi
NOTE: If students do not answer a question correctly, they will not be given the opportunity to give the author's name and are not able to receive bonus points.