Bookworm Challenge: St. Louis Teams Compete in Annual Book Battle

As trivia-style events continue to grow in popularity throughout the St. Louis-area, one school has found a way to make it both educational and a fun time for students.

On Tuesday, 33 teams from schools across St. Louis competed at Pattonville Heights Middle School in the Book Battle Challenge, where teams tested their knowledge of 20 books that members read throughout the school year. This is the seventh year for the event.

“It’s really cool to watch kids who are so connected to the world to actually prepare for battle because they had to read books,” Pattonville Heights language arts teacher and Book Battle committee member Jan von Harz said.

At the beginning of the school year, a committee comprised of teachers, librarians and, this year, a high school student work on selecting 20 books for the competition. Von Harz said many books are from Mark Twain or Truman books—books chosen as a part of the Truman Readers Awards, which are geared toward middle school students.

From there, they send the list out and students prepare for competition at their respective schools but through the Book Battle blog page, too, where questions are asked about books weekly.

North County was well represented as teams from the Hazelwood School District were represented. Middle schools from the Hazelwood School District, included, Hazelwood Central, Hazelwood North, Hazelwood Northwest, Hazelwood Southeast and Hazelwood West. 

For the Remington Traditional School team, the eight-member team gave each book to two people to study and prepare for the battle. Seventh-grader Emma Stubblefield said that the team started reading in December and been testing and practicing ever since.

“A lot of people tried out and not everyone made it, so that’s why I’m excited to be here,” Stubblefield said of the more than 20 people who tested for the team.

On the other side of the Pattonville Heights Middle School gym, the Hazelwood Central Middle School team said they were excited about winning.

Coach and Hazelwood Central Middle Librarian Stephanie Slusher said she was excited for the students, whom she said was a wonderful group to work with.

During competition, teams listened to questions pertaining to the books they read and had to answer with the book title and author’s name.

At the end of the day’s competition, Senn-Thomas Middle School from Herculaneum, Mo. came out ahead, but Pattonville Heights Middle School came in second place. Rockwood South Middle School placed third.

The winning team members received a $50 Barnes and Noble gift card, books and a certificate and medal.