ROMS Hosts 1st Annual Battle of the Books

Abigail Sherman

The Red Oak Express

Last Thursday, Red Oak Middle School hosted its first annual fifth and sixth grade Battle of the Books. The Battle of the Books has been held several years at the seventh and eighth grade level, but inconsistently in the lower grade levels. Red Oak School District ELO teacher Trish Fellers, wanted to change that and organized the event for Southwest Iowa.

The objective of the Battle of the Books is for each team to read 20 books and know the book from cover to cover. Information about the book starts with the title and author, but can be as specific as “What address does Marlin find Nemo at?”

Eight area schools participated in this year’s competition, totaling 14 teams and 67 students. The districts that participated were: Atlantic, C.A.M., Fremont-Mills, Harlan, Logan-Magnolia, Red Oak, Southwest Valley, and Treynor. Each team had to go through two rounds of questions, adding up to 48 possible points.

Red Oak took home two trophies, with the Red Oak sixth grade team taking third place with a score of 35 out of 48 points. The members of this team were Abby Johnson, Cataya Barker, Cloie Bruce, Cyrus Mensen, Max DeVries, and Joshua LeRette. The Red Oak fifth grade team took second place with a total of 37 out of 48 points, their members being Grace Goldapp, Abby Pedersen, Marissa Williams, Brayden Sifford, Landon Gigstad, and Neveah Sore. The Logan-Magnolia sixth grade team took first place, scoring 39 out of 48 points. Members of the Logan-Magnolia team include Cora Killpack, Tatem Emrich, Marki Helgenberger, Ben Holmgren, Evan Roden, and Penelope Alvis.

Former ELO teacher Becki Kaiser was emcee for the event and was very familiar with the competition, having attended several Battles of the Books with students while she was teaching. Dawn LeRette helped with tabulating scores, along with several other members of the Altrusa Club. Fellers was very thankful for their assistance during the entire event, stating, “These women were a tremendous help with this competition running so well. Melanie Sifford was so helpful in recruiting the volunteers. I couldn’t have done it without them. I love our community support.”

Red Oak’s sevent and eighth grade teams will be attending their division of the Southwest Iowa Battle of the Books in Harlan on April 18.