On March 9, 45 students from Oakview, Scripps and Waldon middle schools met virtually for the Lake Orion Community Middle Schools and Orion Township Public Library’s 2021 Battle of the Books.

Melissa Kempski, Media Specialist at Oakview Middle School; Rebecca Lowe, Media Specialist at Scripps Middle School; Katherine Montei, Media Specialist at Waldon Middle School; and Sabrina Halsey- Orion Township Librarian, organized the 2021 Battle of the Books.

“This is normally an in-person event that we changed for this year to become virtual,” Kempski said.

Teams were made up of two to five students who competed to answer trivia questions about three novels selected by the battle members themselves: Hello, Universe by Erin Kelly, Ungifted by Gordan Korman and Warriors: Into the Wild by Erin Hunter.

“Each team met virtually in a breakout room where questions were timed while students responded to short answer, multiple choice, and true/false questions. Students also showcased their love of reading through creative book-themed costumes and team names,” Kempski said.

The Baguette Cats, a combined team of sixth graders – Camille De Veer, Gavin Kempski and Rosie Wagner – from Scripps and Oakview middle schools, took first place.

Second place went to repeat winners, Low Key, The God of Mischief, with team members Michie Bach, Lillia Weiss, Luciana Lacroix, Mariana Perez Hija and Mariana Kirklin.

The Lazy Readers from Waldon Middle took third, with members Brendan Cox, Timothy Gdowski and Geo Biernat.

Despite being virtual this year, Kempski said the Battle of the Books went, “very smoothly.”

“We have used the same platform, Nearpod, for the last few years and students were able to login and use their virtual breakout rooms with ease. Each group had 15 minutes to answer each section of questions (true/false, multiple choice, short answer) and once in their breakout room they were free to talk through the questions without any worry of another team over hearing their answers,” Kempski said.

Eight teams also designed their own costumes that they could wear during the competition.

“The winning costume was submitted by the team (of) Brain Boys from Scripps, and best team name was the Mandalor-readers, a team of Scripps and Oakview students. Teams also got into the virtual spirit by creating backgrounds to match their team names. The spirit of the competition was alive and well, it just looked a little different this year,” Kempski said.