Super bowl of reading

Everyone wants to be a winner, but finding an outlet to unleash that competitive spirit can be a challenge — especially for those who aren't athletically inclined.

While some join sports teams and duke it out on the soccer field or basketball court, others who are more adept at academia are often left on the sidelines.

Whitefish Middle School librarian Dana Carmichael recognized this void recently and decided to create a Battle of the Books quiz bowl competition to bridge the gap between team-related activities and education.

"Kids at this age are social and are competitive," Carmichael said. "They like to be good at something and have the satisfaction of accomplishing something. Middle school students have lots of opportunities to compete in music, sports and intramurals, but I was looking for something academic."

Carmichael started the quiz bowl last October and easily had 25 eager students sign up for the inaugural competition.

The students divided into teams of four to five members and then decided on a strategy for the double-elimination quiz bowl. Some teams chose to have each member read every book, while other teams preferred to have each member become an expert on just one or two books.

The competition's finale on May 14 pitted the school's top teams against each other in the super bowl of the event.

After going into a sudden-death round, the team of Sam Benkelman, Dylan Eve, Mason McInnes and Ryker McIntyre edged out a 35-25 win over Bergen Carloss, Amber Coburn, Addie Elm, Logan Freeman and Keaton Wells.

The names of the winning team were put on a plaque in the library and each member was given gift certificates to Bookworks. The Whitefish Education Association funded the $210 worth of prizes.

Carmichael said the kids enjoyed the competition and that they'd like to compete again in seventh grade. For next year's finale, she plans to have the top team from seventh grade compete against the top team from sixth grade.

Some of the titles on the Battle of the Books list include "Eleanor Roosevelt," "Everything on a waffle," "The last of the really great whangdoodles' and "Elijah of Buxton."