Battle of the Books.

Creating a buzz around reading.

The very first Battle of the Books was held nine years ago in the BHS Library where I was the Librarian at the time. World Book Day was looming and I was wondering how we could celebrate it and share the love of reading with the broader community. There were many passionate readers in my care and I wanted to give them and others like them, an opportunity to represent their school and shine at what they do best– read!
We started off with six local schools attending in 2008 and it was met with such enthusiasm that for the past six battles we have had to move into the gym hall and now have up to twenty schools attending from all over the Southern Suburbs.
This sort of growth would not have been possible without the generous sponsorship from Reader’s Warehouse. The top five schools share R15 000.00 plus the individual team members receive Reader’s Warehouse vouchers. In addition, this year there were beautiful book hampers for the top ten schools. No-one left empty handed and every contestant went home with a goody bag filled with books, posters and bookmarks regardless of where their school placed. The winning school also took home a beautiful floating trophy which they will have engraved.
Bergvliet High School has continued to graciously host the Battle even though I am no longer the Librarian there. The Bergvliet Library crew help with the packing of the goody bags and serve as runners on the night and all the technical support, coffee and tea and photography is in the hands of the capable staff and crew from Bergvliet. Thanks to them the Battle has a home.
Schools are invited to enter a team of five of their best high school readers who attend in school uniform and they then pool their knowledge and work together as a team. There are ten categories which have ten questions each. There is no individual pressure and a discussion period is allowed after each question.
Schools are sent the categories beforehand, one a week, and have to decide which category they would like to double their score in – before the quiz begins. There are five categories that are staples: Childhood Memories, Shakespeare, Classics, Books into Movies and Fantasy/Sci-fi. New additions this year were: Locations in Literature, Fantastical Beasts and Where to Find Them in Literature and Opening Lines. The tenth category is a most exciting one. We get five international authors to film a short video of themselves, then we play these clips on a big screen. In these videos, the author greets the Battle contestants and asks them a question about one of their books. The faces on the contestants are a delight when they realise that the author of a book that they have read is talking directly to them. The authors at this year’s Battle were – James Dashner, Danielle Page, Holly Smale, Lucy Saxon and Amy Zhang. They all asked a question from their latest book.
The big audience draw card is our dynamic quizmaster John Maytham from Cape Talk who takes no nonsense from the teenagers who seem to thrive on his sarcasm and wit. He delights all with his performance in the Shakespeare category and his many interesting anecdotes.
The audience is not forgotten and they are asked questions in between rounds and are rewarded with the choice of a book from the audience prize table. Over forty audience prizes are awarded.
The Battle was incredibly close again this year with two points separating the top three schools. In fifth place was Herschel, fourth place – Herzlia, third place – Westerford, second place – Bergvliet and in first place by half a point – Rustenburg.
It is a very rewarding experience to be present in a hall full of book lovers ‘high fiving’ each other over a correct answer and witnessing them interact with like-minded learners and makes the months of preparation beforehand all worthwhile. Librarians meet each other for the first time and form a network to exchange ideas and discuss problems.
I trust that Reader’s Warehouse and Bergvliet High School continue to nurture a culture of reading and interaction amongst our book lovers.

Patsy Geach

Ex BHS Librarian and Battle Commander