Troy teams do well at state book competition

UPDATE: The following additions and corrections were published in the Friday, March 23 Western News:

On page B1 of the Friday, March 16 Western News story “Troy teams do well at state book competition,” we reported that the Battle of the Book’s was the first for Montana. While the competition was the first that students from Troy Public Schools competed in, it was the fourth year a state competition has been held in Montana.

Original article:

Three Troy Public Schools teams competed in the first ever Montana Battle of the Books in Missoula on March 13.

The teams competing were for 3rd-4th, 5th-6th and 7th-8th grade, said Troy Public Schools Librarian Kay Randall, who organized the effort to send teams from Troy.

The competition required students to read 12 books, she said. At the competition, they are given examples of events or scenarios, and have to name the book it comes from and the author of the book.

Teams of up to three consult together on their answers, write them down, and then read them off, Randall said.

Because of when Randall found out about the competition and a couple delays along the way, Troy students got a late start on the program, Randall said. They only began reading in December, while many of the teams they faced in Missoula had been reading since before the end of last school year.

Randall said she was very proud of how the teams did.

The 3rd-4th grade team of Dimitri Walenter, Elijah Garcia and Anson Goucher placed fifth of seven teams.

The 5th-6th grade team of Bella O’Day, Sophia Simanovicki and Nevaeh Pattie placed third of nine teams.

The 7th-8th grade duo of Kiralynn Newton and Abigail Osborn tied for second place.

Randall said a particularly proud moment for her came when the 5th-6th grade team won the first successful challenge of the competition.

If the teams give a book and author in response to an incident or scenario and it is not the one the judges are looking for, they have the opportunity to prove that it also occurs in the book they gave as an answer, Randall said. There had been a number of challenges throughout the day, but the Troy 5th-6th grade team were the first students to challenge and be able to prove they were right.

“Kids challenged and challenged and challenged and nobody got anything,” Randall said. “And then on the very last question, my girls and one other team challenged, and my girls found an answer and won the challenge.

“I was so proud, and the whole place was clapping and cheering,” she said.