Battle of the Books

Back in September we started on the long road to the Battle of the Books (BoB).
Kids in year 7 and 8 first read 20 books then learnt all the fine details. They sat through memory workshops and practice quizzes. The idea is they answer questions on the 20 books. The answer is always the book title and author and questions go from easy to obscure.
This year we had treasures such as: "In which book does the hero have a dress made in the same sea green as her eyes?" "In which book does a character have Arthuritis?" and so on...
The children have to identifiy which of the 20 books they have read fits the bill in just 20 seconds.
We took the best with us to the semi final which we won easily (6/6 rounds) and then onto the final which was closer but we still won with flying colours (5/6 rounds).
The trophy is now back with KGV where it belongs, as well as $1500 dollars worth of books which the children got to choose.

You can read more about this and other school happenings here...
http://www.kgv.edu.hk/news_&_events/docs/School%20Newsletter
/2009/KGV%20Newsletter%20-%20Jun%2009.pdf

On the way I read a lot of teenage books myself and got to appreciate the quality of writing. Teenagers are more cynical - you can't get away with clichés and platitudes. I loved some and heartily recommend Skellig, Skullduggery Pleasant and anything by Marcus Sedgwick.