Battle of the Books welcomes another chapter of student involvement

Battle of the Books is back again this year, led once again by media specialist Abigail Hendrickson. Students read 25 different books as well as this year’s featured author to compete in the Grand Battle for Battle of the Books.

On April 26 the top 16 qualifying student teams will compete in three preliminary rounds followed by the final battle consisting of the final four teams. Many different kinds of books will be represented in this competition, each winning different awards such as the Alex Awards, the National Books Awards, the Walter Awards, as well as many more. These 25 books as well as the featured author’s book will be featured in the Battle of the Books.

• (Featured Author) Apple: Skin to the Core By: Eric Gansworth

• All My Rage By Sabaa Tahi

• Bluebird By Sharon Cameron

• The Girls I’ve Been By Tess Sharpe

• Indivisible By Daniel Aleman

• Kneel By Candance Buford

• The Last Thing He Told Me By Laura Dave

• That Weekend By Kara Thomas

• Today Tonight Tomorrow By Rachel Lynn Solomon

• We Are Not From Here By Jenny Torres Sanchez

• You’ll Be the Death of Me By Karen M. McManus

• A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting By Sophie Irwin

• Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcan History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution By R.F. Kuang

• Daughter of the Moon Goddess By Sue Lynn Tan

• The Kaiju Preservation Society By John Scalzi

• True Biz By Sara Novic

• Man Made Monsters By Andrea L. Rogers

• The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School By Sonora Reyes

• Victory. Stand! Raising My Fist for Justice By Tommie Smith

• We Deserve Monuments By Jas Jammonds

• When the Angels Left the Old Country By Sacha Lamb

• The Words We Keep By Erin Stewart

• Burn Down, Rise Up By Vincent Tirado

• The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen By Isaac Blum

• A Face for Picasso: Coming of Age with Crouzon Syndrome By Ariel Henley

• Himawari House By Harmony Becker 

Last year one CFHS student team made it to the Grand Battle for Battle of the Books alongside Hendrickson, who has been leading the Battle of the Books for seven years now, and she said she is once again excited to coach Battle of the Books. 

“I love it, it gives me a chance to build relationships with students,” Hedrickson said, adding that,

“Kids are usually self motivated to read, so I usually don’t have to do a lot of coaching. Just keep them focused.”

Hendrickson also said that she feels academics should also get as much of a spotlight as athletics. “I think that we do so much focus on athletics in school buildings, and it’s really important to celebrate academics too and the readers. We have theater clubs and drama clubs and music, and we might as well have books, so I do think it’s really important.”

In past years some students leave Battle of the Books after some time; however, Hendrickson has hope that this year will be different. “We always have a lot more at the beginning, and they kind of fade out, but this year is the first year out of all my years that they have formed teams one day one, so they might stay in longer since they’re teams are relying on them,” Hendrickson said.

Freshmen and above can join the high school Battle of the Books and read to compete at the Grand Battle. Readers who are still interested in Battle of the Books can still join until around mid October.