The Chapter Champions, a group of five third graders, won Philomath Elementary’s Battle of the Books competition this week and will move on to the Region 2C Tournament.
Finding success in the “battles” comes down to the team’s collective knowledge of the 16 titles on this academic year’s Oregon Battle of the Books reading list. Squaring off in a best-of-three format, Chapter Champions won two of three battles over the Midnight Readers, a group of six fifth graders.
The Chapter Champions and Midnight Readers display an oversized check that represents a grant received from the Siletz Tribal Charitable Contribution Fund. The money will be used to purchase OBOB book copies for next year. (Photo provided by Molly Bell 
The two teams battling in the finals were the Chapter Champions, left, and Midnight Readers. Pictured from the Chapter Champions, from left, front, Muriel Appanaitis and Raina Horton; back, Sally Bain, Harper Pivic and Sidney Harryman. Pictured from Midnight Readers, from left, front, Sage Cross, Lydia Larson and Rachel Workman; back, Sophia Sather, Samantha Hammonds and Darcy Morrison. (Photo provided by Molly Bell) 
The Tweeter Readers reached the semifinals. Team members included third-graders Huck Chapple and Logan McLeod, fourth-grader Cash Chapple, and fifth-graders Elliott Allan and Theo Allan. (Photo by Nicole Hammonds) 
The Chapter Champions in the semifinals. Team members included third-graders Muriel Appanaitis, Sally Bain, Sidney Harryman, Raina Horton and Harper Pivic. (Photo by Nicole Hammonds) 
The Midnight Readers in the semifinals. Team members included fifth graders Sage Cross, Samantha Hammonds, Lydia Larson, Darcy Morrison, Sophia Sather and Rachel Workman. (Photo by Nicole Hammonds) 
The Dragon Readers reached the semifinals. Team members included third-grader Caleb Sanchez and fourth-graders Ada Foster, Elise Gosda, Addison Landes and Cassidy Sanchez. (Photo by Nicole Hammonds) 
OBOB participants at PES. (Photo provided by Molly Bell)
Members of the winning team include Muriel Appanaitis, Sally Bain, Sidney Harryman, Raina Horton and Harper Pivic.
The Region 2C Tournament with 25 elementary schools from Linn and Benton counties is scheduled for March 8 at Crescent Valley High School in Corvallis.
Sally, who called “Leonard (My Life as a Cat)” by Carlie Sorosiak as her favorite book in the competition, said what she has enjoyed most about Battle of the Books is “how happy everyone would get if we got the question correct. Felt really good because a lot of the time, it’s not like that — it’s fun when everyone agrees.”
Harper said “The Name of This Book Is Secret” by Pseudonymous Bosch was her favorite “because it kept me on my toes and was interesting; I wanted to keep reading it.” She said she enjoyed reading the books, being on a team and “basically everything.”
“The Wild Robot” by Peter Brown was Sidney’s favorite “because it was not sad, it was interesting and had fun parts.” She said “the battles and reading the books and having fun with my teammates” were what she enjoyed most about the experience.
Muriel said she loved the books and listed her favorite as “The Name of This Book is Secret” because it’s a mystery. Raina called “Circus Mirandus” by Cassie Beasley as her favorite “because it was magical.”
The runner-up team, Midnight Readers, included Sage Cross, Samantha Hammonds, Lydia Larson, Darcy Morrison, Sophia Sather and Rachel Workman.
Rachel most enjoyed “Leonard (My Life as a Cat)” “because I really like fantasy books and it was exciting how an alien cat was just thrown onto Earth. It was so cool.” Rachel said OBOB “is fun because it is sort of funny when you are sitting out as a sub and you know the answer and the rest of the team doesn’t know it, they look over to you, but you can’t help them out.”
Lydia liked “Fifty-Four Things Wrong with Gwendolyn Rogers” by Caela Carter because “I liked the characters, the plot and how it was written.” Lydia’s favorite part of the activity is “how we work together as a team to read all the books.”
Samantha most enjoyed “Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs” by Pam Muñoz Ryan “because it had a good plot” and “Marshmallow & Jordan” by Alina Chau “because of the twist at the end.”
Darcy also enjoyed “Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs” most “because I love butterflies” and “Thirst” by Varsha Bajaj “because it shows hardships in life.”
“The Name of This Book Is Secret” was Sage’s favorite, saying, “It was intriguing and made me think and want to read more.”
The week opened with the semifinals Monday afternoon with four teams battling for the right to advance. With about 200 students along with several families watching, the Midnight Readers defeated Dragon Readers in the first semifinal and Chapter Champions beat Tweeter Readers in the second battle.
Described as a “voluntary reading motivation and comprehension program,” the elementary school’s Battle of the Books on-campus competition included 14 teams with 70 students participating.
The division for grades 3-5 included 16 titles: “Before the Ever After” by Jacqueline Woodson, “Circus Mirandus” by Cassie Beasley, “Fifty-Four Things Wrong with Gwendolyn Rogers” by Caela Carter, “Frizzy” by Claribel A. Ortega and Rose Bousamra, “J.D. and the Great Barber Battle” by J. Dillard, “Just Jerry: How Drawing Shaped My Life” by Jerry Pinkney, “Leonard (My Life as a Cat)” by Carlie Sorosiak, “Marshmallow & Jordan” by Alina Chau, “The Mystwick School of Musicraft” by Jessica Khoury, “The Name of This Book Is Secret” by Pseudonymous Bosch, “Sam Makes a Splash” by Nicole Melleby, “Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs” by Pam Muñoz Ryan, “Thirst” by Varsha Bajaj, “A Time Traveler’s Theory of Relativity” by Nicole Valentine, “Twins” by Varian Johnson and Shannon Wright and “The Wild Robot” by Peter Brown.