Sitting up on a staged area in Philomath Elementary’s school library on Tuesday evening, 10 students took their positions and readied themselves for the competition.
The older group featured five fifth graders that adopted the name, “Mini Helpenstell Readers,” an ode to teacher and one of the organizers, Emily Helpenstell. Opposite them were five third graders known simply as “The Bookworms,” certainly an appropriate nickname for the occasion.
In the audience were family members, friends and a few other interested onlookers, including the school superintendent and the school board’s chair. The 1980s rock song, “The Final Countdown,” played prior to the competition. Then organizer Molly Bell stood in front of the crowd and announced that it was time to battle.
Yes, it was the latest installment of Philomath Elementary’s Battle of the Books competition. The two teams in the finals had survived a bracket of 16 teams featuring 80 students for the opportunity to claim the top spot and advance to a regional competition that takes place next month.
“It takes some practice to be on the spot like that and so I think that’s a really unique thing that this provides for them — to have that pressure of competition and that quiz show atmosphere a little bit,” Bell said.
In a best-of-three competition, the Mini Helpenstell Readers won in two battles by scores of 50-35 and 65-35.
“I’m super proud of the individual students that you know and can tell put the time into reading the books but also how both teams did a really nice job of checking in with each other and making sure that they’re agreeing before they give the answers,” Bell said.
Mini Helpenstell Readers team members included fifth graders Ada Foster, Addison Landes, Anna Mollova, Claire Odenbach and Aether Stevenson.
Competing with the runner-up Bookworms team were third graders Xay Braxton, Jonah Kolbas, Owen Lee, Michael O’Daniel-Reynolds and Jonas Pope.
“I liked the fact that we made it to the finals … This year, we worked really hard and we made it and we definitely might get to keep going,” Aether of the Mini Helpenstell Readers said before the competition. “All we have to do is keep trying.”
Teammate Addison said the team worked well together while enjoying themselves.
“I liked working as a team and how we goofed off a lot and how we made connections with each other and with the books.”
The other three members of the Mini Helpenstell Readers also pointed out why they’ve enjoyed the Battle of the Books experience.
“The battles and meeting at lunchtime with the team,” said Anna.
“I like that it was a challenge to read all of the books and answer all of the questions,” Ada said.
Claire was enthusiastic heading into Tuesday evening’s match: “Coming into the finals!”
Each of the competition’s battles consisted of 12 questions for each team and participants had 15 seconds to answer. When there were wrong answers, the other team had an opportunity to “steal” the points with a correct response.
The Bookworms made a commendable run at the school OBOB title as the younger of the two teams. Each had their own reasons for enjoying the activity.
“The practice rounds were helpful so I know how it feels to be in OBOB,” Jonas said.
Jonah said he enjoyed, “The feeling of relief and surprise after you win a battle.”
For Xay, his favorite part was simply “reading the books”; Owen found the activity “helped me read more” and Michael said he “liked meeting new people.”
Bell enjoyed how the students approached the competition.
“You could tell both teams had a good sense of humor about it,” Bell said. “You’re going to get some hard questions that you won’t always know the answer to but you just kind of have to brush that off and get ready for the next one. I thought they did a good job with that.”
Two of the five members of the winning team — Aether and Claire — said their favorite title was “Secret Garden on 81st Street” by Ivy Noelle Weir and Amber Padilla.
“I’ve known the book for a very long time and it’s a story about growth and how people grow to be who they are,” Aether said.
Said Claire, “I just liked it a lot. I read it twice.”
Addison’s favorite was “Better with Butter” by Victoria Piontek.
“It was addicting because it made me feel a lot of different emotions,” Addison said. “One part when Butter got taken away, it made me cry, but in the end everything made me feel better when she got back together with Marvel. It was a roller coaster of emotions.”
Ada appears to favor historical fiction, saying she likes “Number the Stars” by Lois Lowry “because it’s based on an event that actually happened and I just like that stuff.”
Anna has been reading “Hatchet” this week.
“I like it, even though it’s kind of dark,” she said. “Sometimes dark is kind of good. I like ‘Hatchet’ because I like the vibes of being outdoorsy.”
The Bookworms’ five third-grade readers had five different favorites.
Jonah favored “City of Ember” by Jeanne DuPrau, saying, “It had different moods and feelings that I like.”
Jonas preferred “Squished” by Megan Wagner Lloyd and Michelle Mee Nutter. “I liked that it had pictures instead of just writing.”
“The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow” by Elaine Dimopoulos was the favorite title for Xay because he “liked the action.”
Owen found “Finding Langston” by Lesa Cline-Ransome to his liking because of “the family story in it.”
Michael enjoyed “Elf Dog and Owl Head” by M. T. Anderson, saying “It was weird and about magic.”
During the event, the organizers and participants paused to offer a thank you to the Siletz Tribal Charitable Contribution Fund for a $2,253 donation. Bell said the money will go toward the purchase of titles for next year’s Battle of the Books participants at the elementary, middle school and high school levels.
The Mini Helpenstell Readers will now move on to OBOB’s Region 2C Tournament on March 7 at Crescent Valley High School in Corvallis. The region includes 29 elementary schools from Benton, Linn and Lincoln counties.
The Philomath School District also has Battle of the Books teams competing in middle school and high school divisions.
Philomath Elementary’s Battle of the Books participants planned to have a party on Friday to celebrate the conclusion of the on-campus program.