Battle of the Books is all about book trivia and friendly competition! Teams of elementary-grade students pit their reading knowledge against each other in this round-robin tournament.
The event occurs at Central Branch in April. Schools can start prepping their teams anytime. You can find study tips and resources on our website.
Tournament Structure
Teams score points by identifying book titles and authors and answering comprehension questions about the plots, characters, and settings of stories.
The competition may span several days, depending on how many teams participate. Each team plays 4 of 5 rounds. Junior and Senior Teams only compete against their counterpart teams.
At the end of the tournament, the judges total each team's scores for the rounds played. The two highest-scoring teams in each grade division compete in the Grand Battle to determine the Burlington Champions. The Junior and Senior Battle Champions go on to compete in the Regional Grand Battle in May.
Who Can Take Part
Students in grades 3-5 (Junior Teams) and grades 6-8 (Senior Teams).
About the Teams
Schools can register one Junior Team and one Senior Team. We will strictly enforce the team composition to ensure fairness among the players.
- Every team has six players and up to three substitutes, for a maximum of nine students.
- Teams have two members from each grade within their division. The three substitutes come from each grade.
- If you do not have enough players from a certain grade, only players from lower grades may substitute. For example: If you have no Grade 7 players, you can have more players from Grade 6, but not from Grade 8.
- Six team members play at one time. One player is the designated Spokesperson.
- All team members may discuss the possible answers, but only the Spokesperson answers for the team.
- If team coaches/managers are students, they cannot participate in the actual competition.