Battle of the Books

Jefferson LOVES to read! He is half book worm – half human. He has read his way through the library and I’m scared there will come a day when there will be no books left for him to read…..Luckily authors keep writing. But what amazes me more than his love of reading is his ability to retain EVERYTHING!
Almost daily, and when doing the most mundane things, Jefferson chimes in and give us some interesting information.
I gave Shawn a thumbs up one day (hear the chimes?), “Mom, did you know that thumbs up started during the Roman Gladiator times?” No, I had no idea. He proceeded to tell me all about the fighting and if the king gave a thumbs up that would mean ‘kill’, and a fist with the thumb to the side would mean ‘spare his life’. “Jefferson” I asked, “where did you learn that?”
”I read about it”

I was wringing out the kitchen sponge (chime) “Hey, did you know that sponge is dirtier than the toilet? So is the kitchen sink and the computer keyboard.” No, I had no idea, “where did you learn that?”
”I read about it”

Shawn and I were talking about some pictures I saw taken of Earth from space (chime), “Do you guys think you can see the Great Wall of China from outer space? Well, you can’t. It was just a rumor that you could see the Wall, but astronauts have actually proven that you cannot see it.” Wow, I had no idea, “Where did you learn that?”
”I read about it”

I feel like I live with a walking encyclopedia. Jefferson is an expert on history, animals, weird facts, and more… plus he has an incredible imagination. He was outside last week MARCHING in the backyard with his bb gun. He said he was a revolutionary soldier and he was preparing for war. We’re talking almost 2 hours of marching and “shooting at Redcoats and Hessians” he said. Who are Hessians? I had to google it… really. I feel so uneducated around my 9 year old.

Thank you books!

So, when he found out there was a Battle of the Books team at his school he jumped on chance to join. He tried out and made it on the team with 12 other students.
The requirement…. read and become an expert on these books
(I had Jefferson order these from his most favorite to least):

Yes, 18! Jefferson had to become an expert on these books. And by expert I mean read, and RE-READ them (some he even read 3-4 times) until he knew every detail of them cover-to-cover. His team met 3 days a week to practice and study the books.
And why?
To compete in the Battle of the Books Competition against each school in the district. March 10th was the big day….. the day he worked almost 12 months for!
There were  43 other competing schools. They grouped schools together into ‘clusters’ of 8 or 9 and the top 2 would go on to the Finals.
He was so excited that morning…. I was a nervous wreck! I read most of these books with Jefferson, so I felt like I was on stage too (yes, I live vicariously through my kids)
Have you ever seen him more excited? or cute?
(Don’t mind my double chin… I’m nervous, remember)

The teammates filled this large auditorium at the State University. Jefferson is way down at the end.  

Oh, there he is

We were given a very lengthy introduction and instructions. This only heightened my nerves…. it was so formal, so serious. There was no video taping, to phones, and no taking pictures. What?
So, I did what any proud mom would do, I hid my camera and took quick pictures without anyone noticing. No harm done, right?
We were all seated viewing 2 large tables at the front. 2 schools would compete at a time. You can see Jefferson’s team on the right (in the green shirts).
Those other adults in the front are all judges, yes, ALL judges… this was a serious competition, remember?    

Here’s another stealth picture I took. His team is on the left now.

Each teammate is posed a question about one of the books. The questions sound like this:

“In which book does a girl get her belly button pierced?”
In which book does a character decide to write about ugly vegetables for her book project?
In which book is a character’s fear lessened by the sight of the first star?
In which book is a quilt made out of old pieces of family clothing, aprons, dish towels, and sheets?
In which book does a daughter successfully impersonate her mother on the phone?
In which book is a character wrapped in a napkin and carried back to the light?
In which book has a character not renewed their driver’s license after it expired 8 years ago?
In which book does a character get a swollen eye from a bee sting? 
In which book does a character jam a chair under the doorknob of his room when he goes to bed just to be on the safe side?
In which book is it so cold that the characters have to pull the scarves up over their noses to breathe? 
In which book is a character sad by their own country's name?
In which book do animals play with bones like children play with leather ropes?
In which book does a news article report that a character has been swallowed by a tortoise?
In which book is a character locked inside a dog crate in the kitchen?
In which book do characters apply manure to shoe bottoms and under beds?
In which book does a character think the term "white lies" comes from the fact that white people require lies from her people?
In which book is a character worried his parents may have been attacked at their home?
In which book is a bus driver hit with a paper airplane?

Those were real questions, and I typed one for each book. (I know, a little excessive, I just want to see how many Jefferson can identify a year from now).
  
As I was saying… the teammate is called by name and is asked the question. They have 20 seconds to correctly identify the title of the book, and authors name. The team can talk and help each other during those 20 seconds. Here’s Jefferson, waiting for the questions. I would listen to the question then hold my breath waiting for them to answer… it was agony. But he seemed to love it. 

If they get it right, they earn 3 points. If they miss it, the other team has 10 seconds to get it correct for 2 points.
Here’s Jefferson, listening to the other team being asked a question.

This repeats itself all day long until each team has competed against each other.
I was lucky to have a friend willing to watch Kennedy all day, and Shawn was able to get the day off of work too.
Us during a lunch break
 

Everyone at lunch


Jefferson with his coaches, Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Schefield
 

There was only 1 more round after lunch. His team finished in 2nd place (only 1 point) behind the 1st place winners. Luckily 1st AND 2nd get to move on to finals.

Jefferson could NOT stop talking for several days afterwards about how excited he was to be going on. It truly was exciting, but it meant more reading. He re-read several of the books AGAIN before competing on March 24th.

I didn’t take any pictures of that competition. It was too risky. If you thought the first day was serious, the second day was intimidating…. I was scared to sneeze.
His team put up a good fight. But of the 10 schools competing that day, Long Hill tied…. for last. It was a difficult pill for Jefferson to swallow, and hard on his emotions to go from the top to bottom so quickly. I’m still having to remind him that he finished in the top 10 of 43 schools… but he still sees himself coming in last place.
Poor guy. 
Luckily, he still claims it was the most fun things he’s ever done!  

And he can’t wait to do it next year.
The book list for the 2014-15 school year is out already and he’s already bought several of the books and is ready to start reading.
So it ends… and so it begins again