Battle of the Books
BATTLE OF THE BOOKS 2025-2026
Battle of the Books is a national reading program. The goal of the program is to support students in their love and discovery of reading by introducing them to quality literature and to develop friendships between students based upon socialization, competition and mutual respect.
What does that look like?
We will spend the season (September - March) reading and reviewing the books on our list in an engaging and fun way to prepare the kids to compete at our school battle and a district-wide battle based on those books.
***We highly encourage students to read at least the first 5-6 books over the summer.
Our Meetings will be held one day a week, right after school. At these practices we will review the books read on the book list by discussion and games. Parents will pick students up at the front of the school by the office or students will return to CDC or Rec.
***The 4th/5th grade group will discuss 2 books each week in the order of the book list.
***The 3rd grade group will discuss 1 book each week.
Reading - The kids will read on their own time. Since the battles are so far off, we suggest the kids take simple notes throughout each book - either on post-its in the book or a separate sheet of paper if reading digitally - just as a way to reinforce what they have read and help them remember key points of the books. This is a skill they can use throughout their education. :-)
***To get credit for reading a book, students must submit a Book Form through Google Forms. Links are posted on the school website.
The Book List and the Battles -
The book list for 3rd grade is 18 titles long whereas the 4th/5th grade list is 28 titles long. In order to participate in the school battle, the kids in 3rd grade will need to have read 8 books by March 1, 2026 and 4th/5th graders will need to have read 15 of the books (by TBD) on their respective lists. The 3rd grade battle is on April 1, 2026. The 4/5th grade school battle is in March. In order for 4th/5th grade students to participate in the district battle, the kids will need to have read 20 books by TBD. For those students on the district team, the battle will be in March at the school that won the previous year. We suggest reading 3 to 4 books a month to get there.
***The book lists and info can be found on the school website under the tab “Programs” and then “Battle of the Books”.
The Battle Teams for the 3rd grade and 4th/5th grade school battle, as well as the 4th/5th grade district battle will be evenly matched and formed solely on the number of books read. In other words, each team will have collectively read about the same amount of books without taking anything else into consideration. These teams are created by the district coordinator using a computer program.
4th/5th grade students can qualify to be part of the drawing for the district battle team by having read at least 20 books by a certain date (TBD) and also have a desire to participate in the district battle. It is purely their choice as some students do not feel like going to the district battle is something they would enjoy. We will submit the list of names and the district coordinator will use a computer program to pick the team based only on the number of books read.
Where Can I Get the Books? Our school library should have a lot of the books on the list. The public library has a whole section dedicated to Battle of the Books and also has 2 apps, Hoopla and Cloud Library, where a lot of the books can be found and checked out digitally. Used book sellers online and local stores have a great selection of the books on our list that are at reduced prices.
Want to sign up? Please fill out the sign up Google Form (links are also on the school website):
3rd grade sign up and agreement: https://forms.gle/MEkWfiL9PxxCw6YR9
4th/5th grade sign up and agreement: https://forms.gle/nmC9iajBzzryMcfu5
BoB leaders for 2025-2026:
3rd Grade:
TBD
4th/5th Grade:
WE NEED A LEADER IN ORDER TO RUN THE PROGRAM
