Battle of the Books!

The Battle of the Books is a Region-wide Library reading program geared towards elementary school students in Grades 4-8.

When you join Battle of the Books, your team will represent your school in a friendly trivia-based competition that takes place in the spring. All questions asked during the competition will be about books from the reading list provided.

This program supports both Junior (Grades 4-6) and Intermediate (Grades 7-8) divisions.

Each team can have up to 10 members. Only 6 may participate in a Battle at any given time. Players can be changed between rounds and Battles.

You can register your team at bookbattle.ca. Registration opens at the end of September and closes in January. Each school may register one team per age division.

Staff from all participating libraries collaborate on creating a reading list each year. The goal of the reading list is to introduce readers to new authors and titles, and to feature content that is reflective of the diverse readers who compete in Battle of the Books.

Find the reading lists above in the Book Lists and Downloads sections for each division, or at bookbattle.ca

In the spring, your library will host a Semi Final event. At the Semi Final, all registered teams from your municipality will compete against one another in three Battles. Each Battle has a Regular Round and a Lightning Round. During the Regular Round, teams will each be asked ten questions worth three points each. During the Lightning Round, teams will answer ten rapid-fire questions worth five points each. Once all teams have completed three Semi Final Battles, their scores from each Battle will be combined to get their final score. The top three teams for each division will then be invited to compete in the Final Battle.

At the Final Battle event, the top teams from your municipality will compete in one Battle, consisting of a Regular Round and a Lightning Round. The team with the highest score will then go on to represent their municipality at the Regional Battle Event. There will be separate rounds for Junior and Intermediate divisions.

The Regional Battle event takes place in a different location each year. At the Regional Battle, the top-ranking
teams from each municipality compete in one Battle, consisting of another Regular Round and Lightning Round. There will be separate rounds for Junior and Intermediate divisions. At the end of the Battle, the Regional winners will be determined and an awards ceremony will follow.

Questions are written in two different styles. Regular Battle questions require teams to identify the Title and Author of the book using major plot or other details (Ex. Question: In which book does the main character make a dress out of an unconventional material when her clothes are burned by a dragon? Answer: The Paper Bag Princess, Munsch).

Lightning Battle questions require teams to recall specific details from the books (Ex. Question: In The Paper Bag Princess, who is Elizabeth supposed to marry? Answer: Prince Ronald).

The questions will increase in difficulty as teams reach the Final and Regional Battles.

No, libraries will not provide practice questions.

No, other teams cannot steal questions if an answer is incorrect. Each team has their own set of 10 Regular questions and 10 Lightning questions. During the Regular Round, teams are asked questions in an alternating fashion. If a team gets one of their questions incorrect after running out of guesses and/or time, we simply move on to the next team's question and don't award a point.

If your team gives an incorrect answer during the Lightning Round they may choose to either skip the question and return to it if time permits or continue to submit guesses.

Yes, you will need to submit a form detailing your team members and the number of books they read, as well as a photo release form. Your library coordinators will make these forms available to you before the Semi Final event.

Yes, you are responsible for all travel arrangements to and from Battle locations. The Semi Final and Final events will happen at your local library, and the Regional Final location will be available on the Battle of the Books website.

Yes! Space permitting, parents and/or guardians are welcome to come and cheer on their Battlers!

There is no minimum number of players for Battle teams. Your team can be on the smaller side, as long as you are prepared to go up against a full team.

Yes, the Battle of the Books reading list includes a Forest of Reading category (Silver Birch and Red Maple). While not all nominees will be included on the Battle reading list, there will be at least six Forest of Reading nominees on each division’s reading list.

Find the full list of Official Rules above in the Downloads section for each division, or at bookbattle.ca