Battle of the Books: Advocating Literacy
By Jennifer LB Leese
With television, video games, computers, and handheld music devices, who has time to read? Most likely, your kids don't!
Reading is important to your child. When reading with your child, not only do they learn new vocabulary words, they'll get to spend time with you. You'll share special moments sitting with them and reading aloud. At first, you'll have fun with picture identification then you and your child will progress to memorizing words and relating the words to pictures, while getting a head start for school. Parents who take the time to read to their child on a daily basis, teaches their child security, support, love, and the importance of reading.
Be an advocate for reading--it helps develop your child's imagination.
Washington County Free Library is doing just that. With their program, Battle of the Books, they encourage children to grab a book and read more during the winter months. Battle of the Books is a competition that began in 1988, headed by Donna Parks, head of Children’s Services, Charles Blank, 1988 director of the library, and Jeff Ridgeway, children's librarian at Washington County Free Library in Hagerstown. The program began with the purpose of balancing summer reading with winter reading, and promoting literacy and the love of reading, as well as rewarding reading kids as much as our community rewards athletic kids.
Beginning November 30 of every year, 20 teams of 6-8 kids each in grades 4-6, with participating adults, form a team to see who can answer the most fact-based questions successfully. After registering, the teams receive 20 pre-selected books read by Mrs. Parks and Mr. Ridgeway who choose the books based on age, genre, and alternating male and female protagonists.
"Most teams divide up the books between team members, so most children are responsible for three or four books each. Teams are free to strategize on however they want to divide up reading the books," says Mr. Ridgeway.
The teams then have from the time they register until the written round in March to read the set of books. A written round consisting of questions, such as, in "Wizard's Hall" by Jane Yolen, "What does the name Thornmallow mean?", will be held from which eight top teams will advance to the final, verbal round--public is welcome. Other books include "Borrowers" by Mary Norton and "Gentle Ben" by Walt Morey.
"I think the Battle of the Books is an excellent program. I find it encouraging that students are choosing to participate in a program that requires them to read several books outside of school. It is great seeing kids develop their love of reading," says Angie Garcia, associate librarian at Washington County Library.
What do the children receive, other than pride and rapturous feelings of completed success? They receive prizes, of course! Every child who competes gets a new paperback book, a pin that says “2005 Battle of the Books”, and a certificate of participation. The top eight team members also receive a t-shirt at the final round, and the top three teams receive trophies and a certificate to Border’s Books, on top of having their team picture displayed in the Children's Department for one year. The championship team gets its name inscribed on a plaque that sits behind the Children’s Department desk. As of last year, Barnwood Books supplies the certificate prizes to the team managers of the top three teams.
"We feel that the program encourages children to read well written books that are both interesting and entertaining. We also feel that giving recognition to kids who love to read is a good thing. Children often continue reading from the set of 20 books even after the competition is over," says Ridgeway, one of the judges of the competition. "I feel that they [the children] do very well and seem to have fun, although it is competitive and can be tense at times.
"I think that the Battle of the Books is a valuable program in that it introduces children to some good books and points out the value of reading for information."
Mr. Ridgeway feels that "the library is one of the most valuable community resources because it allows everyone to have equal access to information. People who can’t afford new encyclopedias every year, computers, newspapers, magazines, CDs, DVDs, or best sellers can borrow them here for free. People who are studying for citizenship, high school equivalency tests, college entrance exams, or other career examinations can find study guides here for free. Parents looking for books to read to their young children or for story programs for children can get them here for free. People looking for answers to questions on almost any topic can use our reference services and book collection for free. We have adult and children’s reference desks, a government reference service, “Ask Us Now”--an online reference service, and Tutor.com--an online tutoring service for grades 4-12. We try to meet all of the life-long information needs in our community, and do it in a cost effective manner."
"[Battle of the Books] is a great value for kids to read," says Ann Corcoran of Hagerstown. All of Mrs. Corcoran's children participated, and loved the competition, of the Battle of the Books. As a parent, she loved that her children were able to read books that they would have never read otherwise. She feels that the program was a wonderful part of their school year. "It's a wonderful program. We, teachers and mothers, decided to offer help to the library to make sure that the program continued by forming a group called the "Battle of the Books Booster Club." They help the library raise funds to purchase books and keep score at final round.
Upcoming programs at the Washington County Free Library in Hagerstown include:
- Poetry Contest for grades 2-Adult (submit a poem of one page or less to Mr. Ridgeway between January 1 and March 15).
- Summer Reading Club for pre-K-eighth grade. Join Sneaks the Cat this summer for game boards, prizes and special events.
- Preschool Crafts for ages 3-5. Tuesdays in July from 10-11 a.m.
- Preschool Storytime for ages 3-5. Every Friday, 11 a.m.
- Thursday Evening Family Story Time-Thursday Eve. 7 p.m.
The library sends brochures to all of the elementary and middle schools in Washington County as well as placing them in the Central Library and all branches--where interested parties can register for the next Battle of the Books.
"Books enable us to see the world from many different perspectives. How narrow our world view would be if we only saw our lives through our own personal experiences. Reading lets us live vicariously through the experiences and feelings of others. It acquaints us with thoughts and ideas that we probably would never have had on our own," states Mr. Ridgeway. I couldn't have said it better myself.
"Get involved!" says Ms. Garcia. "Come in and discover what we offer."
The library is located at 100 S. Potomac Street, Hagerstown, MD 21740. You may also contact them by dialing 301-739-3250.
