Charles City High School students in ‘Battle of the Books’ competition today

By Amie Johansen

amie@charlescitypress.com

Five Charles City High School students have been preparing for battle all year.

Today is the day of the Grand Battle. They will storm Marshalltown with their reading comprehension and retention skills.

This is the Battle of the Books.

“(There are) 28 books on a list,” Anne Field, a sophomore reader, said. “We all read about 15.”

The first competition was a pretest, which the group completed in early March. Today’s Grand Battle will be more difficult, requiring open responses.

“(Questions) can be on the smallest details,” Field said. “First priority is to read thoroughly.”

Then second priority is to review character details, author information and anything else that might be asked about the books. Field encouraged her teammates to do a little studying of each of the books they read in preparation for today’s competition.

Team member Anastasia Baldus, a freshman, compared the high school’s Battle of the Books competition to the middle school competitions.

“It’s not really that different,” she said of the competition. “(There are) less people that do it.”

Today the team will compete in Marshalltown, vying for the top prize. According to Field, if the team takes first place, it will win the complete set of books for next year’s reading list.