There was a battle going on in Airdrie today (February 15th) as dozens of Middle School students took part in the first ever RVS Battle of The Books.

The students participating formed teams of six and read 15 books in preparation for the quiz show competition at the Rocky View Education Centre. The books included well-known pieces such as 'Wonder' and 'Bad Beginning' by Lemony Snickets.

 

Other books came from Canadian authors including Heavy Freight from Red Deer writer Sigmund Brouwer.

One of the students participating was Joel was Meadowbrook Middle School. He explains in his own words what took place.

"What we're doing is a Battle of The Books. It's where a bunch of books were selected and a bunch of schools got together and it's like a huge competition."

Joel's team, The Brook Worms, didn't make it as far as they hoped but he said he had a great experience nonetheless.

"We didn't even make it to the semi-finals but I think we did pretty good. We got second, almost every single game we played."

Another local student that took part in the event was Annabelle from Heloise Lorimer School and her team, The Chosen Ones. She shares her favourite moment of the competition.

"Probably when there was an apple on the table when we got first in one of them [games] and our team was like, 'it's our best luck' so we put it on again and then we lost that one. It was my favourite part."

The Readasaurus Rexes from Mitford School won the first ever Battle of The Books.

After six rounds of competition, the final four teams were selected based on their winning records: Dumbledore's Army from Springbank Middle School; The Readasaurus Rexes from Mitford School; Word Warriors from Meadowbrook and Indus Irony from Indus School.

After an intense semi-final round, the Readasaurus Rexes and Indus Irony had the best scores and moved on to the final round.

The finals came down to the last question, which was answered correctly by Indus Irony, putting both teams in a tie. In order to break the deadlock, a few more questions needed to be asked and Sigmund Brouwer, who was in attendance, asked the final questions.

At the end of it all, The Readasaurus Rexes answered the tie-breaking questions and won the inaugural Battle of The Books.

After the competition, Brouwer had a chance to speak to the students and teachers in attendance.

Although her team didn't make the semi-finals, Annabelle says she had a lot of fun and believes it's important for students her age to always be reading books.

"It's pretty important. That way, when we get older, we're still liking them."

The final four teams were each given gift certificates to purchase books for their school's library from the Rocky View Schools Literacy Academy.

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