Battle on

BUTTE — If you thought it unimportant to know the most minute details of the adventures of Sir Fartsalot, you’d be no match for many of the Mat-Su School District’s elementary students.

Competitors representing 24 area schools packed Butte Elementary School on Saturday for the annual Battle of the Books. A reading challenge and knowledge contest, Battle of the Books tests the comprehension and memories of children. On this day, it was a race to crown champions for the district’s third-/fourth-graders, and fifth-/sixth-graders.

“This is such a great way for kids to read a lot of great books,” said Terri Paulson, Butte Elementary library media specialist and coordinator for the event. “It gets the kids reading, and that’s the most important thing.”

On the eve of the Super Bowl, all eyes were on the stage as the Mat-Su Central School team of Leighton Radner, Tyler Plummer, Caden Hand and Collin Smith won the third-/fourth-grade title. The boys scored 56 points to beat out teams from Midnight Sun Charter School and Academy Charter School.

And while a teammate paraded his blue first-place ribbon around the Butte gymnasium singing his own version of “Hail to the Chief,” Radner was elated for another reason.

“Well, my oldest brother, he’s 14, and he said that because he got halfway through his (Battle of the Books) I had to do better,” Radner said. “I just wanted to get better than he did, and I did.”

The battle

In Battle of the Books, teams of three players and an alternate have 30 seconds to answer up to 10 questions pertaining to a pre-determined list of 15 books. The questions pertain to particular books, and the students have to identify the book’s title and author. A correct answer scores up to eight points — five for the correct title and three for the author.

Once question in the finals asked, “In which book does a character live in a house with chickens, ducks and a baby crocodile in the yard?”

The answer: “Barack Obama: United States President” by Roberta Edwards.

Sir Fartsalot made his debut near the end of the fifth-/sixth-grade final, when the moderator asked, “In which book are the character’s final words, ‘I’m proud of you, son?’”

All four of the teams — from Academy, Cottonwood Creek, Pioneer Peak and Sherrod elementary schools — got the answer correct, responding with “Sir Fartsalot Hunts the Booger” by Kevin Bolger.

Cottonwood on top

That was the question that put Cottonwood Creek over the top as the fifth-/sixth-grade winner. The team of Lunia Oriol, Jessica Rentz and Jordan Johnson answered an impressive nine of 10 questions correctly in the finals.

The girls spent several minutes hugging and jumping for joy after their win, and said all their hard work paid off.

“I was really happy then,” Johnson said. “We practiced a lot. We had to do tests and work as a team against each other and do practices.”

For Rentz, the win was confirmation she could retain the information she read in so many books.

“I was only able to go through the series once, but I went through a couple of the books twice,” she said. “It was all just amazing and I’m very excited to do this experience again next year.”

Oriol, who was the team’s spokesperson during the battle, said she was initially worried about missing that one question.

“I was, but then I was mainly thinking that at least everyone got that same question wrong, so nobody would get ahead of us,” she said. “I feel really happy. I never expected this first-place prize and I’m very excited for next year.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.