Palgrave Public School emerges on top as CPL holds inaugural Battle of the Books

By Riley Murphy

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

To celebrate the fun of reading and literacy with a friendly competition, the Caledon Public Library (CPL) recently held its inaugural Battle of the Books event.

Six local Caledon elementary schools descended on the Caledon East Community Complex to battle for first place in the event.

The students, ranging from Grade four to Grade six, were tasked with reading ten different books and then competing in buzzer-beater rounds answering trivia questions, working towards the title of Grand Champion.

This new event program aims to highlight the importance of literacy and community engagement among young readers in Caledon.

Nicole Agar, a Programming and Outreach Coordinator at the Caledon Public Library, was the driving force behind bringing Battle of the Books to CPL.

An idea that had existed in her head for numerous years finally came to fruition this year when she was approached by a local teacher with a similar idea, and it took off from there.

It was true team effort, she says, as numerous teachers helped prepare for the event, and Agar worked with the Orangeville Public Library as well to craft questions and help with book selection.

Capping it at just six teams and ten books this year, she plans to grow the program even more following the success of this year's event.

“The kids knew the answers so quickly, so much faster than I thought they would know the answers,” recalled Agar at the end of the event. “We were often ahead of time because the kids were so fast at answering.”

Students were also able to “steal” a question from an opposing team if they were unable to answer in time or answered incorrectly.

At the end of the day, Palgrave Public School emerged as the Grand Champions of the inaugural event, and medals and trophies were presented to the teams that participated.

“If you can read, you can do anything,” says Agar.

“The more kids are reading, the more they're going to be able to adapt to the world that's always changing. People say that literacy is dying, but we have proof that it is not, and we see it every day in the library.”