On March 11, 80 students from Oakview, Scripps, and Waldon Middle Schools met at Waldon Middle School for the Lake Orion Community Middle Schools and Orion Township Public Library’s 2022 Battle of the Books.

Over four months, teams read four books and were challenged with more than 60 multiple-choice, short answers and true/false questions at the Battle of the Books competition to determine the top team.

Students were excited to participate in person–last year’s battle was virtual.

The Novel Cats took first place. A combination of 7th grade students Gavin Kempski, Camille De Veer and Rosie Wagner from Oakview and Scripps Middle Schools.

“This fantastic team also won first place last year as sixth graders,” said Melissa Kempski, media specialist at Oakview Middle School.

Second place winners were Tied Up in Reading, 8th graders from Waldon Middle School.

The Jurassic Books team took third place with team members Emma Hopkins (Oakview Middle School), Sneh Makhecha (Dragon Virtual) and Wynter Lemmon (Scripps Middle School)

Organizers of the event were middle school media specialists Melissa Kempski (Oakview) Rebecca Lowe (Scripps) and Katherine Montei (Waldon), as well as Sabrina Halsey from the Orion Township Library.