Submitted by the Virginia Beach Public Library
Cheers from excited fifth-graders, parents, teachers and librarians filled the Meyera E. Oberndorf Central Library as the final six of 107 teams competed in the Virginia Beach Public Library (VBPL) Battle of the Books finale on Saturday, March 19. In the end, the Time Turners of Kemps Landing/Old Donation School emerged victorious, winning a trophy for their school. The winning team members each received medals, certificates of accomplishment and $25 gift certificates to Barnes & Noble.
Battle of the Books is a “Jeopardy”-style quiz show based on trivia from a reading list of 10 books, pre-selected each year by VBPL staff. Funded by a $1,000 grant from the Friends of Virginia Beach Public Library, the goal of VBPL’s Battle of the Books program is to encourage children to read for pleasure and expand their interests in literacy.
In 2016, the competition’s ninth year, nearly 500 Virginia Beach fifth-graders from 39 elementary schools, including Virginia Beach City Public Schools, private and parochial schools, competed in 14 preliminary battle rounds during February and March.
Semi-final competitions on March 17 and 18 yielded the final six teams to compete in the grand finale: Book to the Future of Three Oaks Elementary; Chapter Chatters of New Castle Elementary; Jurassic Geniuses of Alanton Elementary; The Reachers of Kempsville Meadows Elementary; the Tremendous Trio, representing both Kingston Elementary and Kemps Landing/Old Donation School; and the Time Turners of Kemps Landing/Old Donation School.
See photos of the competitions at VBPL’s Flickr page.
About Virginia Beach Public Library
A community anchor for more than 50 years, Virginia Beach Public Library includes a central library, a joint-use library in partnership with Tidewater Community College, seven area libraries and a public law library. Services include workforce development and job-search support, small business resources, computer and technology classes, early literacy classes and outreach, and local history archives and programs. In addition to books, music, magazines and movies in tangible and digital formats, the library provides online research tools accessible from home or work and a variety of specialty collections. Visit www.VBgov.com/libraries for more information.