This morning during our last Upper Primary School assembly of the year, we celebrated our Battle of the Books team. Each student from the home and traveling team got acknowledged and received a certificate of achievement for their commitment to the team throughout the school year, for their efforts and dedication in trying to read 20 books, for learning all of the titles and authors of the books and for doing such a wonderful job during the competitions (first during the showcase at our school and then during the semi-finals at Shatin Junior School).

Our celebrations continued during a pizza lunch in the library. Of course, we added one last (fun) challenge, in the spirit of a much-loved book from this year's B.o.B. list: Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein. Our students had to answer two questions connected to B.o.B. on entering the library, then they had to find the correct places on our library shelves for two of the B.o.B. books, before joining the lunch table. It was so much fun and in the shortest of time our enthusiastic readers sat around the table with the biggest of smiles, awaiting their first piece of pizza.

Ms. Virginia joined us too and congratulated our team for their wonderful work, for their dedication and commitment.
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During the lunch, our students chatted about the books they had read, sharing favorite titles and those not enjoyed that much. It was really interesting to hear how much opinions on the individual books differed. There is really a book for everyone, while not every books is for everyone. Fortunately, the B.o.B. lists always provide readers with a wonderful variety, various genres, classics and new books, from all around the world. It was also fantastic to hear how many students want to continue next year, and have actually already begun reading some of the books. Most frequently mentioned from the new Secondary list was Pam Munoz Ryan's Echo; from the Primary School list it was Roald Dahl's Boy and Grace Lin's Dumpling Days. 

If you are going into grades 4-5 or into grades 6-8 this coming August, have a look at the videos below to see what fantastic books await you, should you decide to join our Primary or Secondary School Battle of the Books team next year.

Image source: https://sites.google.com/site/hkbattleofthebooks/home

This week the 2015-16 Battle of the Books competition came to an end with finals taking place in the different categories. While we are yet to have a final reflection and celebration with our team, we are already looking into next year's competition. The B.o.B. Committee just released through the official Hong Kong Battle of the Books website the book lists for next year's competition, highly awaited by many of our students.

As I shared the book lists through the videos below with our students (the Primary Category list with grade 3-4; the Secondary category list with grade 5), some books got loud cheers; for example in the Primary Category Dumpling Days (Grace Lin), Boy (Roald Dahl), Tofu Quilt (Ching Yeung Russell), Dash (KIrby Larson), and Crenshaw (Catherine Applegate). I could see some surprised looks on students' faces when El Deafo (Cece Bell) came up - yes, a graphic novel for the very first time included in the competition. On the list of the Secondary Category, our fifth graders cheered especially when they saw Out of My Mind (Sharon Draper), Echo (Pam Munoz Ryan) and Lost in the Sun (Lisa Graff). 

The enthusiasm for Battle of the Books continues to grow among our students and I was therefore not surprised to see how many of the books from the lists were already checked out right away. Many students are keen on getting started and told me that they would also read some of the books during the summer break. I think that is a fantastic idea and I will definitely also read some of the titles from the lists that I don't know yet. Some of the books I am planning to download as audiobooks, knowing that I will do quite a bit of traveling during the summer and listening to a story is an ideal way of enjoying long journeys.

I encourage everyone to give the titles a closer look, no matter whether you plan on joining the B.o.B. team next year or not. The lists are a wonderful selection of some of the best children's/young adult novels. Many of the title make wonderful family read-alouds too, if the child/children are in Upper Primary. Happy reading!

This morning our Primary School's B.o.B. traveling team headed over to Sha Tin Junior School, the hosts for the semi-final in Group C. They competed against teams from the host school, ICHK-HLY, Japanese International School, and PLK Yuen Yuen Primary School in an exciting competition of ten rounds of twelve questions each. All teams did a wonderful job in answering the questions, demonstrating how well they knew the books they had read. What I enjoyed especially, was experiencing the friendly atmosphere throughout the competition. The hosts had done a wonderful job in organizing for the event and making us all feel really welcome. The students applauded the efforts of the teams after each round and showed generally great sportsmanship.

The team from the Japanese International School won this semi-final - CONGRATULATIONS - and we are wishing them the best of luck for the finals. Our team was not far behind and we are proud of our students' achievement. I was especially impressed how confident they were with the rules and procedures and in pronouncing authors and titles of books.

Ms. Alison did a wonderful job in sharing the reading of the questions with two other teachers. Ms. Gretchen supported the competition as a judge and Ms. Murjana kept a pencil paper tally. So we all got to be actively involved in the event.

After the competition, we had lunch and then got a chance to take a stroll through the PYP Exhibition taking place at Sha Tin Junior School as well. It was interesting for our students (and us teachers) to see what Exhibition looks like at another school. I think what surprised our students the most was seeing how each of the 49 groups had developed their own central idea under the transdisciplinary theme How We Organize Ourselves.

All in all an exciting morning! I know that our students will have a lot to share with you and with their other team members. Next Thursday, during our meeting, they will get a chance to tell the remaining team members what the competition was like, while allowing us all to reflect a bit on the past year, what we thought went well, what we want to work on and/or do differently next year. And then, it will be time for us to bring this exciting reading adventure called Battle of the Books to an end for the year with a big celebration - and hopefully also get off to a new start by introducing the titles for Battle of the Books 2016-17, which will be announced shortly.

This week is the week our Battle of the Books enthusiasts have been waiting for. The semi-finals are finally here! Our students who have been reading as many as possible from a list of 20 books will be able to demonstrate their knowledge about these books in friendly competitions this Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

Our Primary School team will compete against teams from Sha Tin Junior School (the hosts of that semi-final), the American International School, ICHK-HLY, Japanese International School, and PLK Yuen Yuen Primary School on May 4.

Our Secondary School team will compete against teams from Good Hope School, Harrow International School, Hong Kong International School, Renaissance College, and Sha Tin College on May 5. We are excited to be able to host this semi-final here at HKA in our beautiful theatre.

Our students have shown much enthusiasm and commitment in taking on this challenge, reading wonderful stories and working hard in practicing questions about the books throughout the school year in preparing for this event. We know they will make us proud.

This morning, we had an action-packed assembly, sharing our successful read-a-thon, showcasing Battle of the Books and our enthusiastic and knowledgeable B.o.B. team members, as well as presentations by two groups of fifth graders (an Exhibition group inquiring into children's rights and the right to literacy in particular, who were making an appeal for a book drive; and the organizer's of our next casual dress day who want to raise awareness about non-sustainable palm oil production that destroys ecosystems and habitats).

Many thanks again to all participants and sponsors!

Then it was time for our Battle of the Books Team to demonstrate what this friendly reading competition is all about and how much knowledge they have acquired about the 20 books on the list during the past school year. In the competition usually two teams of six students each compete at a time but for the purpose of this assembly and due to our large number of students reading and attending meetings, we decided to make the teams bigger. With the competition just about three weeks away, this was like a technical rehearsal for our team. Sitting on a stage, in front of a big audience, and remaining calm and focused is not an easy task. Our students not only did an impressive job in answering questions but also demonstrated that they are confident with the rules and procedures of the competition. From the applause our students received and even more from the many students expressing their interest in joining B.o.B. next school year, I could tell what an impact they had made on our audience this morning. Below are a number of snapshots from the showcase (thanks Ms. Jennie!) as well as the video recording of the entire assembly (thanks Mr. Bruce). Enjoy!

29 fourth and fifth graders came to our first Battle of the Books meeting of the school year 2015-16. What a fantastic turnout! While we had heard many students mentioning their interest to join the team this year, we were not sure how many students to expect. It was wonderful seeing so much interest, even more, experiencing everyone's enthusiasm in taking on this reading challenge. Our students were also excited about the adults accompanying them this year on their reading adventure: Ms. Alison, Ms. Gretchen, Ms. Murjana and myself. 

During this first meeting, we shared just a bit of information about the competition and preparation for it and will share more information in the meetings to come. Our main goal for this meeting was getting everyone together and having students check out their first B.o.B. books. This was the moment everyone had waited for, finally to be able to check out one of the books from the B.o.B. shelf. I could tell that most students came prepared and had already a particular title in mind. There was a lot of recommending happening too as numerous students already read some of the books either during the summer or since the start of the school year. Most students couldn't wait to find a comfy spot around the library and get started reading. What a fantastic start to our Battle of the Book adventure 2015-16!

And here again the titles our students will be reading this year - as always a wonderful mix of different genres, of new titles and classics, some of the best out there in children's literature. 

Source: https://sites.google.com/site/hkbattleofthebooks/current-book-lists/primary-book-list-2015-2016

We are about to embark on another wonderful reading journey through our participation in Hong Kong’s Battle of the Books 2015-16. Students in grades 4-8 have been eagerly awaiting our first meetings, which are open to all interested, on

Tuesday September 15, 2015 at 12:45pm (for students in grades 6-8)

Thursday September 17, 2015 at 9:15am (for students in grades 4-5)

For those of you not familiar with Battle of the Books: it is an inter-school competition around reading, held among many schools around the world, among them schools in Hong Kong. Students read 20 books over the course of a school year, to then meet for a friendly competition in May with students from other schools, demonstrating their knowledge about these books. Here are a few examples of what the questions and expected answers during the actual competition look like:

Q: In which book is there 'so much ugliness we sometimes forget how wonderful a thing like a flower is'?
A: The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis.

Q: In which book does a boy shrink till he is smaller than his soccer shoe?
A: Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell

Q: In which book does a character have the power to hold up a falling bridge?
A: Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin.

Participation is possible in two different categories: Primary Category for students in grades 4-5 and Secondary Category for students in grades 6-8.

The 20 titles students will read this year (2015-16) for the respective categories are as follows:

If you would like to find out more about BoB and our past participations, we suggest visiting the following blog posts as well as the official website of Hong Kong Battle of the Books:

Secondary Team Post

Primary Team Post

You can of course also contact us directly:

Virginia Hand for all inquiries for students in grades 6-8

Tanja Galetti for all inquiries for students in grades 4-5