Battle of the Books

Every year at the beginning of the school year the elementary schools in our district do what is called Battle of the Books. There are two teams Primary and Intermediate. In the Primary Team there are 15 books and in the Intermediate team there are 10 chapter books. Only six kids are on each team. To be on the team you have to try out by taking a test based on the books. Anthony has been doing it since second grade. He has diligently read all the books and each year passed the qualifying test. After the teams are formed in October they then practice twice a week until competition at the end of January. During this time Anthony rereads the books and continues studying them. By the time of competition Anthony knows those books forwards and backwards. Several times this year the teachers in charge would stop me in the hall and tell me how impressed they were with Anthony. Anthony's team consisted of fourth and fifth graders. Only two fourth graders (Anthony and another girl) made the team the others were fifth graders. At the beginning the fifth graders thought they were smarter and didn't need the fourth graders. However, Anthony was able to demonstrate to them that they should listen to fourth graders. Anthony is not very athletic, but he has found his niche in Battle of the Books and has been a good contributing team member to his team. Anthony is already looking forward to next years competition. This year at competition Anthony was chosen to be the team captain of the intermediate team, which he took seriously. When they are at competition Anthony makes sure that the judge at their table raises the right card to signify their answer, and if the judge puts up the wrong card Anthony is right there to correct the judge. This year Anthony could not contain his excitement when his team got the answer right. He just couldn't sit in the chair, he had to dance with each right answer, those around him knew that he was excited for his team. In the end, Anthony's team comprised of Primary and Intermediate took home the trophy for first place. After the competition Madeline and I met everyone from the team up at CiCi's for lunch and celebration. After the competition Anthony called me to tell me the good news and as I was congratulating him I had to hold back the tears of pride. It was in that moment I knew and felt the many joys of being a mother, a job and title I wouldn't want to replace for anything.

So when summertime comes, Anthony will be busy reading and re reading the books for the 2013 Battle of the Book Competition.