2017-2018 Book Lists

Welcome to 2017-2018 OBOB! This is our third year participating in the Battle of the Books program and students are excited to get going!

Here is the list of books teams must read to compete in the battles.

3-5 Division

• Blast-off! By Nate Ball
• The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity by Mac Barnett
• Dash by Kirby Larson
• The Door by the Staircase by Katherine Marsh
• Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
• EllRay Jakes the Recess King! by Sally Warner
• Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan
• I Survived the Eruption of Mount St. Helens, 1980 by Lauren Tarshis
• Masterpiece by Elise Broach
• My Life in Dog Years by Gary Paulsen
• Mystery on Museum Mile by Marcia Wells
• Poppy by Avi
• The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney
• We the Children by Andrew Clements
• Wild Life by Cynthia DeFelice
• Wild Wings by Gill Lewis 

6-8 Division

• Fallout by Gwenda Bond
• Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix
• Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
• I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest
• Kalahari by Jessica Khoury
• The Lightning Queen by Laura Resau
• Lost in the Sun by Lisa Graff
• The Mark of the Dragonfly by Jaleigh Johnson
• Popular: A Memoir by Maya Van Wagenen
• Rebel Mechanics by Shanna Swendson
• The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen
• Schooled by Gordon Korman
• The Seventh Most Important Thing by Shelley Pearsall
• The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
• The Turn of the Tide by Rosanne Parry
• The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

These books are available in the school library, and most teachers have some of the titles as well. You may need to supplement with books from the public library, but it is not necessary for you to buy them.

Battles will be held in late February. Teams should know the titles AND authors of the books to do well in the battles. But most of all, HAVE FUN READING!

2017 3-5th grade Battle Calendar and Bracket - UPDATED 2/15/17

I will be updating this page with the most recent Battle Calendar and Bracket information. Check in here daily to see the changes. *Starting this week (February 6th) Brackets and calendar will be updated daily (Tuesday-Thursday) as battle information changes quickly. Thank you for checking in!*

FINAL BATTLE will be held on February 21st at 8:00 AM in the library

Battles will be held in the school library from 8:00AM - 8:15AM each Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Battles will begin promptly at 8:00 to make sure student's don't miss any class time. Please arrive on time for your scheduled battles!

Sample Battle Video

Here is an informational video that shows what a battle looks like. Questions alternate between teams and each team gets 30 seconds to confer before answering. Remember, the spokesperson is the only person who can answer for your team, and they must answer with the title AND the author to win all the points. (The spokesperson can change from battle to battle).

Practice Questions From Local Libraries

Follow the link below to find practice questions written by librarians at the Cedar Mill Library. There are questions for the 3-5th and 6-8th grade books.

You can study these on your own, have your parents quiz you, or get together to practice with your team.

Happy studying!

http://library.cedarmill.org/kids/obob/

Practice Questions

This year we will be holding weekly prize drawings in December and January for students who want to put a little extra effort into their reading.

Students can enter the drawing by writing 5 practice questions using the form below and turning them in to my "inbox" located on the Battle of the Books shelf in the library. Blank forms are also available in the library (or click the image below to download and print your own!)

Students also get one entry for every after school Book Club meeting they attend (see the previous post) and for completing book-related activities which will be located in the library starting in December.

Prizes include movie tickets, frozen yogurt gift cards, free books and more! Happy reading!

After School Book Club!

We are holding an after school book club for anyone participating in Battle of the Books!

Many of the books on this year's list are at a 4th-5th grade reading level. This may present a challenge for some students, and we want everyone to have a great time reading these books! To help with that, this reading club will be a time to get cozy, have snacks, and listen to one of the more challenging books read aloud, with plenty of time for answering questions and figuring out some of the tricky vocabulary.

Most of the time will be spent listening to a book read aloud. If your child/team has read most of the books, they can use the time to work on study questions with their team or work on book-related activity pages.

The club will be held after school from 2:45-4:00pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays in December, from the 1st to the 15th. An activity bus is available to all students. Please fill out the permission slip (you can print it below) and return it NO LATER than TUESDAY NOVEMBER 22nd.

Please contact me through the profile link to the right with any questions!

-Jessica

FAQs

FAQs

- A team can have up to 5 students, however only 4 can participate in a battle. The 5th team member is an "alternate" and it is up to the team to decide to rotate the alternate into tournaments or if the alternate will only battle if one of the other 4 teammates is absent. A team can have less than 4 members, but the most successful teams have at least 4.

- Students on the most successful teams will each read between 6-8 books from the list. There will be charts located in the library to keep track of your team's progress and to see who has read what book. 

- Each team will have a spokesperson who will give the final answers during the battles. The spokesperson can rotate between battles, but not in the middle of a battle.

- The spokesperson must know the correct book title AND author's name to get full points for questions in a battle.

- Battles will be held in January and February before school in the library from 8-8:20. The January schedule will be posted at school and on the blog and it is the student's responsibility to check the schedule and show up to school on time for their battles. Teams who do not show up within 5 minutes of the starting time forfeit the battle. 

- The winning 3-5th grade team and 6th grade team will move on to compete in the regional battle to be held somewhere in Washington County on a weekend in March. Parent permission will be required. 


*If you have further questions, please e-mail me at ballantj@hsd.k12.or.us
I will update the FAQ as needed. Thanks!