Cloquet Students Compete in 7th Annual Battle of the Books

CLOQUET, Minn. — Students faced-off Tuesday in the 7th annual Battle of the Books competition at the Cloquet Senior High Auditorium.

The quiz bowl style event featured students from Churchill Elementary, Washington Elementary and Cloquet Middle School. The kids read 12 different books this year and answered questions Tuesday about the authors, characters, themes and settings.

Event Coordinator Jessica Gagne explained, battle of the books gives kids a chance to contend in a unique format.

“Often times kids don’t get a chance to compete in things that are not sports related. So this is a chance to earn medals and trophy’s, be apart of a team, make team shirts and team posters. Really collaborate like you would at a hockey game or basketball game. So this is really exciting to see,” said Gagne.

The winning team, Croissant Crew from Cloquet Middle School, had a familiar face taking first place for the second year in a row.

“Well I didn’t really care if I won again. I just liked reading the books and being with the team.” 5th grade student Lillian Cotner went on to say that her favorite book was, “Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan because it has so much emotion and it feels like when you’re reading it you’re actually there.”

It sounds like the key to winning is just to enjoy what you’re doing and who you’re doing it with. Congrats Lillian and Croissant Crew and to all teams that competed.