Whoever said the pen was mightier than the sword obviously never had a showdown involving both.
But that’s what happened when four teams clashed against one another to win the ultimate prize at the Bonnington Arts Centre last Thursday, March 10. This was, of course, the three-month in the making Battle of the Books between the Nakusp Elementary School students.
Inside the Bonnington the Wonder Readers, Book Bootleggers, The Last of the Really Great Readerdoodles and the Radical Readers had a showdown trivia style for the top prize: Chapter’s gift certificates.
Each team, comprised of four or five children, had read 20 books collectively and were grilled for answers by the judges: Evelyn Goodell, Sabina Iseli-Otto, Cedra Eichenauer and Denice McMechan.
As a question was read aloud, kids scribbled furiously with chalk on the blackboards sitting on their team desks. Whispering amongst each other for the answers, the children would either stare vacantly out at the crowd or snap a finger in the air when the answer came to them.
Right away, the Book Bootleggers were off to a head start, closely trailed by the Radical Readers.
By the first intermission at 1:30 p.m., the Bootleggers were sitting at 15 points, with the Readers right on their heels with 14 points. The other two teams had 11 points and nine points.
The Bootleggers would keep their lead, slowly separating themselves from the pack as the nearly 50 question competition came to a close.
By the end of it all, it was no contest.
The Book Bootleggers had 42 points, the Radical Readers had 35 points, the Last of the Really Great Readerdoodles had 26 points and the Wonder Readers had 22 points.
The top two teams were rewarded their gift certificates before being sent back to class to finish out the school day.
Congratulations to all participants!