Santa Maria students test reading knowledge in ‘Battle of the Books’

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) - Dozens of Santa Maria elementary school students are putting their literacy knowledge to the test in the annual Santa Maria-Bonita School District's annual "Battle of the Books."

Held Friday at Bill Libbon Elementary School, the five hour competition where teams of students answer questions from a list of more than two dozen books.

"There are 28 books on the list and the kids have to read at least 15 of them to participate," said Bill Libbon Elementary School teacher Kellie Ouellette, who is also a member of Altrusa Golden Valley, an organization that helped put on the event. "When they come to the battle, they're asked questions like, in what book did this happen? And what book was there a boy under the stairs in his cousin's house, and the kids have to know it was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and if they get that and they can also answer the author as well, it's by J.K. Rowling, they get points. They get five points for every title that they know and two points for every author."

This marks the second straight year the school district has held Battle of the Books following a hiatus that started during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Covid hit and everything kind of changed," said Ouellette. "Altrusa Golden Valley is an organization that supports literacy and community. We thought it would be fun to try and bring back this event and so we've been we sponsor it. Last year was the first year and we had like 50 students last year and this year up to 70. We're growing it every year. We have more schools participating this year than last year and so we want to continue to grow it."

Participating students range in grade levels from fourth through sixth grade and are put onto teams with other competitions from other schools than their own.

"That's one of the best things about Battle of the Books is that when they come here, they are not competing with their school against other schools," said Ouellette. "When they come here, they are put on a team with kids from other schools, so every team is made up of students from different elementary schools, and they have to learn to talk to each other, work together, come together and the kids that really interact with each other really talk to each other, those are the teams that do really well."

Santa Maria-Bonita School District, along with Atrusa Golden Valley held a similar Battle of the Books for junior high school students last month.

Next week, Santa Barbara County will hold a countywide Battle of the Books for elementary school students at the Abel Maldonado Youth Center in Santa Maria on Thursday, April 23.