North Hunterdon High School readers won second place in the 2017 NJ High School Battle of the Books competition in Highland Park on March 9, 2017. The High School Battle of the Books challenges students to read nine novels and then work as teams to answer trivia questions about the books.
Competing against 18 other teams from across the state, freshmen Elizabeth Caso, Jadyn Funkhouser, Paeton Horsch, Callisto Morgan, and Shaelyn Marks were one of only two teams in the competition to answer every question correctly over six rounds and the only team to successfully challenge the validity of a question. A team from Bergenfield High School edged out North Hunterdon by one question in the final round.
With support from a grant from the North Hunterdon Education Foundation, the NHHS Battle brigade comprised 14 students working on three teams. In addition to reading the titles on the Battle of the Books list, team members prepared by writing practice trivia questions, running drills on author-title recognition, and competing in scrimmage rounds of questioning in the weeks leading up to the state meet. At that event, North Hunterdon competitors wore T-shirts designed by team member Nicole Krok.
“We were thrilled to bring home a trophy in our first outing at the Battle of the Books,” said North Hunterdon librarian Martha Hickson. “Our freshman readers were fierce competitors who kept cool under pressure and against older students. But every one of our team members shares a piece of this prize; they all worked together to memorize tiny details until those books were as familiar as their own phone numbers.”
