We had a great Battle of the Books year again. We started at the very beginning of September reading our book. Noah was on the 5/6 team and Megan and Madison were together in the 3/4 team. This year we challenged the kids to read all 10 books (instead of the required 7) - those who read all 10 almost always make the team. Megan got all 10 of hers read in the first 6 weeks - she was the first one to read all 10. Madison got her's read and Noah read 9 - which I was still very proud of since we didn't let him do any audio books this year. They went to school at 7:45 am every Friday morning all year to practice with their teams. I went often to help out. If Dane was awake and had had breakfast we went.
In January we had a school battle. I got there late and didn't get a picture of the 3/4 team - but here are both teams together at the end.
The 5/6 team.
Then we spent every Wednesday evening the whole month of January and February and part of March at the library battling. The kids did great and won most of their battles.
Madison was spokes person a couple of times and she did a great job!
This little boy did great too. You are not allowed to make ANY noise in the battles - so he would be there for about 5 minutes and then Jason, Brock, and I would take turns walking around the library with him.
Noah's 5/6 team lost in the quarter finals in a tie breaker! It was so sad. But they all took it really well.
And our 3/4 team made it to the finals!!! (Also on a tie breaker). Our family has been doing battle of the books for 5 years now and it was the first time we have made it to the finals. It was so exciting and SO nerve racking!
AND THEY WON! (On a tie breaker again!) They were elated!
My three battlers. Noah was happy for them and wasn't too jealous of their win. He was happy to support them.
The next week was district finals. It was going to last all evening because it was single elimination and they could play up to 3 battles. The boys had Young Mens and we knew Dane couldn't last. Jason took them because he "earned" it. He read all 20 books so he could talk to the kids about them AND he wrote questions with them and kept them on schedule. HE is the reason we can do BoBs in our house. He is our rock! So I wasn't there - BUT I got minute to minute updates on the battles. They were nail biters! And ON ANOTHER TIE BREAKER they won!!
District Champions!!!! The boys and I were jumping up and down when we got the text.
With their librarians
Since I wasn't there and Jason doesn't have a camera - I asked some friends to take pictures - that is why they aren't looking at the camera :(
As a true tender mercy for our family this is the week of the coronovirus outbreak. Everyday leading up to the battle there was more panic, news, and regulations about things. Their battle was on Thursday evening and on Friday morning the district sent an email canceling all school and events. Had it been one day later they would have never got to compete (and now looking back we realize it would have never been made up) and we would have never known. We are SO grateful we got to do this one last activity!
And then there is this guy... the one who got it all started. The middle school battle of the books doesn't start until January and they battle in May. His books were much harder, longer and more "mature" than he had been used to. Jason (of course) read all of Brock's books as well (that is 30 books in like 4 months WHILE getting his MBA - he is amazing!!) Brock did great, he read 8 out of the 10 books, he would have read all 10 except for the library closed doe to Covid and we couldn't' get the last 2 books. They did an online zoom battle where his team won 2nd place! He was the ONLY ONE in his middle school that didn't drop out once school got cancelled so he got put on another middle school's team. I am unbelievably proud of this guy. I am amazed every year that he wants to do it (given all of his learning disabilities) and that he does so well at it. He makes my heart burst!
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