The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Ritter’s ‘Battle’ gives students book smarts
Local students read books and test their knowledge before competition
A young girl putting puzzles together to stop the potential attackers of her literary idol.
A group of American Army officers attempting to be the first to fly around the world in the 1920s.
A boy describing his journey to find his dad to aliens.
These are all plots of books that were chosen for Northern Ohio Libraries Battle of the Books this year and which Ritter Public Library, 5680 Liberty Avenue in Vermilion, is one of seven libraries competing.
The program America’s Battle of the Books challenges students nationwide to read eight books and attend book clubs at their local libraries to prepare for competition. On competition day, students are asked questions testing their knowledge on each of the books in quiz-bowl style.
In May, the program’s supervisors from each of Erie County area’s libraries met, each with a list of potential readings, to deliberate which eight books should be included in this year’s competition. One book was then chosen for each of the categories: mystery, realistic fiction, historical fiction, action/adventure, non-fiction, humor, sci-fi/fantasy and classic.
“We go through the list and narrow it down so that there’s a range of age levels in the books and we have authors of both genders and diverse authors,” said Bethany Schmitkons, the teen advisor and Battle of the Books supervisor at Ritter Public Library.
She said that since participating students this year range from fourth through eighth grades, finding a reading level to fit all students’ skill levels can prove to be a challenge.
“It’s a little hard,” Schmitkons said. “I would say most of these are a fifth-grade reading level.”
The students, however, are not required to read every book or attend review sessions to participate in competition.
Each supervisor is also responsible for coming up with 75 questions on each book to be used. Since a competition can consist of as many as 16 rounds, a handful of each book’s questions is used for each round which often last around 20 minutes.
Each team consists of up to eight students and a library can have multiple teams.
Last school year was the first time Schmitkons supervised the program. Since then, she has made changes to the schedule and content of her book clubs and review sessions.
Schmitkons said that last year, the meetings she ran occurred every other week for four months.
“The kids didn’t remember anything. We lost so, so badly,” she said with a laugh.
Now, book clubs and review sessions were every week for the six weeks leading up to the competition in late September.
Each week, a book club meeting is held to go over the plot, setting and characters of the book for that week. Students are given a “cheat sheet,” where they can write down basic facts about each book.
Schmitkons also helps the students identify “trigger words,” which are unique features or characters in a book that could give away the answer to a question.
A review session is also held to further prepare the students for competition.
“I trimmed a lot of the fat in book club,” Schmitkons said. “In a book club for fun, you would be like ‘What’s you favorite part?’ ‘What do you think about this?’ ‘I want your opinion.’ This isn’t an opinion book club, this is a ‘what’s important and what could people ask you questions about’ book club.”
Schmitkons said that a large majority of the students that are involved with the program are Vermilion’s private school and homeschooled students.
“There’s a lot more after-school programming for kids just in school,” she said. “Private school and home-school parents are a little more free to drive their kids around. They’re a little more willing to put the time in there.”
Ava Leslie, 10 and Timothy Anders, 9, both of Vermilion, are taking part in the program for the first time this year, and said they are enjoying it thus far.
A few of the books that they have read through the program prove to be favorites.
“I liked ‘Book Scavenger’ because I really like books and also I’ve moved a lot, so I can kinda relate to the main characters ‘cause her family moves a lot,” said fifth-grader Ava, who is home-schooled. “Then I also liked ‘The Metropolitans’ because it takes place in New York City and that’s one of my favorite places.”
“I like ‘Maniac Magee’ because I just like Maniac Magee’s style,” said Timothy, who is a fourth-grader at St. Mary Catholic School. “Like, I wouldn’t want to be him. I just kinda think the book is action-packed.”
Besides attending the library’s meetings and reading the books, Ava is taking additional time to prepare for competition at the end of the month.
“About every night before I go to bed, I just go through each of the books and think of the names of the books and the authors,” she said. “Sometimes I’ll just think of questions or I’ll think of different stuff that happens in the books.”
Both Ava and Timothy are already planning to participate in the program next year,
Schmitkons said that the program appeals to a very specific student audience.
“It definitely is competitive reading,” she said. “You know those kids that are competitive but don’t have any athletic skills and ability? This is a target for them.
“If you like fiction, if you like stories, if you want to win things, that’s what this is. Fiction is a fun thing to read.”