The elementary program began 12 years ago with 6 schools participating and has grown to 124 schools participating last year. This year, we are expecting 135 elementary schools to compete in the Battle which is an exciting and fun way to foster good reading habits.

During the school year students read the current Sunshine State Young Readers titles, and in the spring the students at participating schools are given a written Qualifying Test to select each class Battle of the Books Team. The test is to determine which students are the most familiar with all the stories from the books on the list. Following the testing, the competition to be the district winning team begins when schools have their local battle. During the battle, the students must answer questions correctly about the plots, characters, and settings of each book to score points for their teams. The winning team from each school moves on to participate in the Area Battle which will be held at the Tampa Bay Convention Center on April 25, 2007. The winning team from each of the seven areas then compete in the District Battle to determine the winning team. The District Battle, attended by approximately 550 students, will be held on May 10, 2007, at The Crossing Church, 10130 Causeway Blvd.Tampa, FL. The Crossing Church is donating their facility which is a perfect site for the District Battle.

The purpose of the Battle of the Books program is to encourage recreational reading, to offer a variety of types of literature, to increase familiarity with different authors, and to share books through written and oral expression. Research has found that students who participate in free voluntary or recreational reading did as well or better in reading comprehension tests than students whose only source of reading was classroom basal reading instruction. It has also been proven that reading as a leisure activity is the best predictor of comprehension, vocabulary, and reading speed.