Sawyer Free Library was honored to participate in this fun event, promoting literacy and education within the community.

Fun was had by all fourth graders last week at East Gloucester Elementary School first ever “Battle of the Books,” a challenge where students read books and then came together to test their book knowledge in a game show-style competition. This fun literary competition was between three teams of East Elementary School fourth graders. 

With the students’ parents and families cheering them on, the fourth graders competed by answering questions about books on the “Battle of the Books” list. It was a competitive until the end, with the final score being: Team 1: 27 points, Team 2: 29 points and Team 3: 27 points.

Over the past four months, from April 3 through June 7, East Gloucester Elementary School fourth graders have been reading an assortment of children’s book titles — from a designated list of 15 books — to equip themselves with knowledge about plots, characters, and themes for the school’s first-ever “Battle of the Books.” Organized by the school’s Fourth Grade teacher Ruth Flaherty, who served as the host of the event, with support from Sawyer Free Library’s Tween Librarian, Marisa Hall, the aim is to make this an annual event and expand to include all fourth graders across the school system.

This “Book Battle” was meant to encourage reading for pleasure, reward the development of comprehension skills and encourage teamwork among young readers. The titles selected vary from easy to more difficult within the 4th-grade reading level. Each participating student was assigned a book to begin the “Book Battle.” They were encouraged to read other book titles if they completed the book. They could read as many as they liked and were able to read over the four months. 

Mrs. Flaherty asked questions to the teams one at a time, and they had one minute to discuss the answer. Teams receive 1 point for each correct answer and 0 for incorrect or incomplete answers. The opposing teams had the opportunity to answer a question that was incorrectly answered.  

Sawyer Free Library was honored to participate in this event. The Library believes in the power of reading to ignite young minds. SFL Tween Librarian Marisa Hall was a part of the program kick-off, visited the students regularly to discuss the books, hosted after-school study sessions in preparation for the big day at the SFL, and served as guest host of the Book Battle!