The District Battle of the Book competition took place on Tuesday, Jan. 25 via zoom. Each team was together in their own library but they Zoomed in their answers to keep the total number of people together down for COVID-19 reasons.

The battle was close but in the end, the Floyd Dryden Middle School team, named T. B. D., earned first place with 120 points and only missed 1 question the entire battle. T. B. D team members are Thomas Stichert, Brayden Capizzi and Della Mearig and will compete at the state level on Feb. 16. A close second place was earned by Dzantik’i Heeni Middle Team, Book Buddies 2.0. Team Book Buddies 2.0 earned 112 points. Challenges were made by and presented to judges by several teams throughout the battle. FDMS students worked with coach Sheila Degener, DHMS students worked with coach Luke Fortier and Montessori students worked with coach Tom Schwartz. Over 45 students participated in the preliminary building battles to whittle down teams to the District level.

Starting in September students read the following books and were quizzed on its contents during the battle: “Dark Life” by Kat Falls, “Good Kind of Trouble” by Lisa Moore Ramee, “Harbor Me” by Jacqueline Woodson, “Heir Apparent” by Vivian Vande Velde, “House Arrest” by K. A. Holt, “Look Both Ways: A Tale told in Ten Blocks” by Jason Reynolds, “Not If I Save You First” by Ally Carter, “Port Chicago 50” by Steve Sheinkin, “Posted” by John David Anderson and “Selection” by Kiera Cass.