SMS teams claim Battle of the Books honors
“The Team That Must Not Be Named” members Dakota Ferguson, Hannah Ricks, Bria Rocke, Scarlett Straub, Amanda Miller, and coach Kelly Curtiss pose for a photo along with members of “The GigaChads," Hunter Squires, Isaac Kingma, Tai Brixen, Dakota Ferguson, and Paul Kent.
(Courtesy photo)
Members of “The Team That Must Not Be Named” — Amanda Miller, Hannah Ricks, Bria Rocke, Scarlett Straub, and Dakota Ferguson — pose for a photo after winning the regional Battle of the Books.
One of Sandpoint Middle School's two teams came away with top honors in the recent Idaho Battle of the Books regional competition. In the competition, held at Lakeland Middle School on March 19, "The Team That Must Not Be Named" came away with top honors after four hours of battles.
Teams read 16 different books over the course of six months and then competed in “battles” against other regional teams in a quiz style format.
"Both teams were well prepared and did a great job," said Kelly Curtiss of Sandpoint Middle School.
Idaho Battle of the Books is a statewide voluntary reading motivation and comprehension program open to all Idaho students in fourth through ninth grade, regardless of ability, according to the group's website.
"IBOB is meant to expose students to quality literature representing a variety of literary styles and viewpoints," organizers said on the website. "The mission of the program is to encourage and recognize students who enjoy reading, share the love of reading with students who have not yet discovered that for themselves, broaden reading interests, increase reading comprehension, promote academic excellence, and promote cooperative learning and teamwork among students."
After lists of books are chosen, students read and discuss the books before competing in teams of four students to correctly answer questions based on the books, IBOB officials said.
Half of the questions asks the students to answer with the name of the book and author. In the other half, the students are given the title of the book and must answer a question about that book. Competitions are held at the local, regional and state levels.
