Battle of the Books BY GINNY HAND


For the past three years, Hong Kong Academy has fielded teams in the Battle of the Books competition in Hong Kong. And this year, the Secondary School Battle of the Books team made it to the Semi-Final, held at Chinese International School. Aſter five rounds, the HKA team were neck and neck with two other schools, but in the final four rounds, HKA were unstoppable, taking first place and garnering a ticket to the Finals.


Not only did HKA’s team advance to the Finals, the school was also proud to host the event. HKA didn’t quite match its performance in the Finals, but still made a strong showing on home turf. Congratulations to the team. And special congratulations also going to PLK Choi Kai Yau School who won overall.


A programme that encourages reading by all students at the primary and middle school levels, Battle of the Books started as a radio program in the 1940s and was introduced to North Carolina libraries in the USA in 1981. Mr. Bryant McEntire brought the idea to Hong Kong when he moved to Hong Kong in 2000, and enthusiasm has spread from school- wide battles to citywide battles. This year over 25 international schools participated, with hundreds of students eagerly reading for both competition and for pleasure.


Through the BoB competition, students are exposed to quality literature representing a variety of literary styles and viewpoints by prominent authors from all over the English speaking world. During competitions, students answer questions about the books in a quiz type format. Each team battles each of the other teams — there’s no individual events — and the team with the highest total at the end wins the competition.


Each round tests readers’ with 12 questions, with each team having a mere 20 seconds to answer. If a team doesn’t answer within 20 seconds, or if they answer incorrectly, the question passes to the competing team for 10 seconds. Tension can run high! But importantly, this is a team effort: the whole team has time to confer before one member gives the team’s answer. Congrats to the HKA Team 2015, and looking forward to next year!


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HKA Battle of the Books Team: (leſt to right, front to back) Phyllis Musco – coach, Audrey Wahking, Alex Oakley, Candice Lui, Jean Dumrongjaroen, Emil Tullberg, Graham Campbell, Carter Sutsko, Ginny Hand – coach, Zara Warbanoff, Oskar Tullberg, Anna Loretan, Luca Salvatori, Kazuki Clark.


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