Elementary Schools

Students from Robinson Elementary and Keysor Elementary took the top two spots respectively in the Area-Wide Elementary School Battle of the Books.  This year’s competition featured teams of students from 14 area schools who competed asynchronously. Winners were announced during a Zoom presentation.

Robinson finished first with 39 out of 40 points. The Robinson team was coached by Library Media Specialist Kristin Davis who met with the team members throughout the school year. Robinson team members are: Audrey Amacher (4), Max Maher (4), Augie Blinn (4), Ella Beaudean (5), Maddie Conroy (5), Maddie Cohen (5), Lucy Lohman (5), Sophia Young (5), Vivienne Thorpe (5), and Isabelle Missey (5).

Keysor finished in second place with 37 out of 40 points. Keysor book club students met with Library Media Specialist Jen Bartin throughout the school year to discuss the books. Keysor team members are: Kaitlyn Bunton (4), Samantha Wilson (5), Addison Loden (5), Elina Peterson (5), Stephen Dowell (4), Lorelei Kadel (5), Sofia Mancini (5), James Rogers (5), Charlotte Chen (5), and Rita Melton (4).

Tillman, North Glendale, and Westchester Elementary Schools also had teams compete in the book battle.

Middle Schools

Students from Nipher Middle School in the Kirkwood School District won the annual Area-Wide Middle School Book Battle on May 4. Teams of students from 26 area schools competed both virtually and in-person for this year’s trivia competition. For the competition, students answered questions about 20 different books. The books are a variety of genres and reading levels. The questions were written by the Area-Wide Middle School Book Battle committee. This year’s competition came down to a tie breaker round, where Nipher beat out Ladue Middle School for the top spot.

Nipher book club battle students met with Library Media Specialist Christy White and Language Arts teacher Lindsay Burrus throughout the school year to read and discuss the 20 books on the list. Several Nipher team members read all 20 books. The Nipher team members include: Isaiah Smith (7), Bill Blinn (6), Ben Bollinger (6), Ryann Kaufman (6), Trip Nieman (7), Emerson Saylor (8), Daphne Wassel (7), Juliet Wegener (8). Other Battle of the Books group members Aadish Srikanth (6), Stella Rowles (6), and Arjan Vandover (7) attended the event but did not participate in the trivia.

For their victory, the students won a team trophy, first place banner, and set of 2022-23 Truman Nominees for the Nipher library. Each student received a medal, a $25 gift certificate to Scholastic, a $25 gift certificate to Main Street Books, and a book of their choice.

The event also featured author Lisa Phipps who wrote Starfish, and local author Emily Bain Murphy who wrote Splinters of Scarlet.

A group of students from North Kirkwood Middle School and coached by Library Media Specialist Brandy Fink also participated in the event.