2021 Virtual Battle of the Books: Friday, April 16 | 6 – 8 pm
Presented by : Josephine B. Scheffenknacker Education Trust
Sponsored by : Friends & Foundation of Howard County Library System, Howard County Public School System, and Yolanda and Francis Bruno Family Fund
Howard County Library System and Howard County Public School System are excited to bring you a Virtual Battle of the Books in 2021. While the 2021 virtual event will be different from the simplified virtual event in 2020, many details are still being determined. Thank you for your patience.
Please review the important dates for this year and stay tuned for the coach handbook, forms, new rules, and much more. Thank you!
Important dates:
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- October 20: Information meeting at 7 pm via Zoom
- October 23: Registration opens at 10 am and remains open until capacity is reached or November 6 at 11:59 pm, whichever comes first. Registration is now closed.
- November 16: Mandatory coach meeting via Zoom
- November 17, 19, and 21 : Contactless pick up of books at HCLS Miller Branch
- Coaches received email from bob[at]hclibrary.org with link to sign up for contactless pickup appointment
- February 8, 2021: Permission forms due (see below) and last day to change team info
- March 23, 24, or 25, 2021: Mandatory logistics meetings at 7 pm via Zoom
- Friday, April 16, 2021: Virtual Battle of the Books
Book List:
- Additional copies available for purchase from Books With A Past online, or email [email protected]
- Click ‘Add to Cart’ directly from this list to bring up the correct ISBN. Clicking the picture of the book will bring up all available versions.
- How to Build a Museum, will ship separately from the other titles, unless you pick up your order in the store.
Permission Forms
- Each coach and student member of the team must fill out a permission form to participate.
- Forms will be available and posted to this page once registration ends in November.
- The deadline to return forms is February 8, 2021.
2020 Virtual Battle of the Books
- 2020 Virtual BoB
- 2020 Virtual BoB
- 2020 Virtual BoB
- 2020 Virtual BoB
- 2020 Virtual BoB
- 2020 Virtual BoB
- 2020 Virtual BoB
- 2020 Virtual BoB
- 2020 Virtual BoB
- 2020 Virtual BoB
Below are links to the rules and answer worksheet for your students.
- Rules
- Answer worksheet
- Video link to play with your teams in a virtual environment: https://youtu.be/vxfS21IQhlY
Before you begin, here are a few things to remember:
- While we hope everyone on your team participates, there is no minimum number of people to do so.
- You may wear your costumes and use team signs for fun.
- There are 4 rounds and 50 questions with 10 tie-breaker questions.
- The moderators will read each question and answer one time in the video.
- Coaches may play the question and pause the video for team responses before playing the answer.
- Scores will not be collected or tabulated. However, if you choose to keep score for fun, please award one point for the correct title and one point for the correct author. For the BONUS QUESTION at the end of each round, please award TWO points for the correct title and TWO points for the correct author.
- Certificate of Participation for team members
- Coaches and parents may share safe, privacy-friendly photos of your virtual battle with HCLS at: [email protected] by June 30, 2020.
If you choose not to use the video, below are the questions and answers.
Congratulations to all and have a great time with your coaches and teams!
P.S. Thanks to BoB coach, Ami Gadhia, for sharing this Battle of the Books word search. This activity is based on the book Schomburg: The Main Who Built a Library (by Carole Boston Weatherford). Ms. Gadhia dedicated the word search to her team in recognition of their hard work and efforts to prepare for the 2020 Battle of the Books. She shared her work with the book’s author who also liked it.
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