Battle of the Books!-Tudor Thundercats Team #51

Sarah competed in the annual Battle of the Books competition on Valentine's day last Thursday. with about 80 other teams from Anchorage area schools. She did awesome, especially considering that she had read about half of the books. Of course, she's so bright that she answered questions about all of the books correctly, just from attending practices and getting the context. It's a really cool competition. There are a total of 3 or 4 kids on each team. Sarah's team had four. One was the "writer", and she was responsible for writing a key word from the title, and the author's last name. (Spelling didn't count, thank goodness, or I think her team would have gotten zero points!) Then there was a "walker". That person would take the paper to the judge's table. The "speaker" would then say the entire title and author's first and last name. The fourth kid was an "alternate" and was required to sit in the back of the room. The three active kids at the table were allowed to whisper together to get the right answer. In fact, our team gave away an answer by over excitedly whisper-shoulting, "Justin!", as in Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World. That team later got a 6th place ribbon, probably because they got that answer correct ;)

Sarah's shining moment came when she was the writer and the question was, "In which book does a character run with wolves for a quarter of a mile?" Her two teammates wanted to answer Balto and the Great Race, which was a logical choice as, for those of you unfamiliar with Alaska history, is the story of the lead dog who delivered medicine to the people of Nome who were dying of diptheria, (sp?) and the precedent to the Iditarod. Sarah, however KNEW the answer was....anybody remember? Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She refused to write down the wrong answer, got it correct, and scored her team some serious points. Go Sarah!

Her team's shining moment was when they answered 12 questions in a row correctly (Sarah was the speaker that round) for a perfect fourth round in the final battle.

She did great, and plans on competing next year....and reading ALL the books!