Tue, Apr 8 | 7 – 8 pm online For ages 5-11. Register at bit.ly/2025-BoB
Battle of the Book featured authors Victoria Jamieson and Matt Phelan answer your questions about their books, When Stars Are Scattered and The Sheep, the Rooster, and the Duck. When you register, you have the opportunity to submit questions to them. The authors will answer selected questions during the virtual presentation. You receive an automated email confirmation containing the Zoom link when you register.
Victoria Jamieson When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed is a graphic novel based on co-author Omar Mohamed’s life growing up in a refugee camp in Kenya called Dadaab. It is told to New York Times bestselling author and artist Victoria Jamieson by Omar Mohamed, the Somali man who lived the story.
Victoria Jamieson is the creator of Newbery Honor Book Roller Girl. She received her BFA in illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design and worked as a children’s book designer before becoming a full-time illustrator. She now lives with her family in Pennsylvania.
Matt Phelan The Sheep, the Rooster, and the Duck is an adventure full of secrets, fun, and re-imagined historical events. Author Matt Phelan is an award-winning, New York Times bestselling author/illustrator of picture books, middle grade novels, and graphic novels for young readers. In 2014, Matt was awarded the Free Library of Philadelphia/Drexel University Children’s Literature Citation. Matt also teaches on the faculty for Vermont College of Fine Arts’ MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults.
Howard County Library System and the Howard County Public School System are excited to bring you the 2023 Battle of the Books at Merriweather Post Pavilion.
National Library Week is drawing to a close for this year, but there’s still so much to celebrate. Tonight, more than 300 teams of fifth graders compete in Battle of the Books at Merriweather Post Pavilion (rain or shine)!
These are the titles that students have read and become experts about:
Battle of the Books is an energetic competition between fifth graders who form teams and then “battle” to win through quizzes based on 12 books. They must know the books, inside and out. Last year, I served as a Battle of the Books judge, and I was overwhelmed by the energy! The kids’ enthusiasm for this event can’t be overstated, and it’s something special to witness. This year, a record number of teams registered, and I know it’s going to be another amazing event.
I am lucky enough to have a mother who passed on her love of reading to me and my sister. The library was a sacred place for me when I was growing up. I would often borrow 10 or more books at a time. Fast forward to today: if you walk into my house right now, you’ll find stacks of books in almost every room. Planting the seeds early in my life led to lifelong curiosity and a thirst for learning. For me, reading is an exploration and an adventure I go on almost every single day. It’s an honor for me to serve on the Friends Board. Join me and support Battle of the Books by becoming a Friend of the Library. You’ll be making a difference that lasts a lifetime.
Wendy Slaughter, Friends & Foundation of HCLS Board Member
If you’d like to join the Friends and support the Library, you can give a donation right now and receive a beautiful basket of flowers as a thank you. Friends supports Battle of the Books by purchasing sets of books for all teams.
Fifth graders excited for Battle of the Books 2022 at Merriweather Post Pavilion.
by Katie DiSalvo-Thronson
In the fall of 2002, Howard County Public School System and Howard County Library System formed A+ Partners in Education to expand the educational opportunities and enhance the academic achievement of every Howard County student. It was one of the first systemwide school and public library partnerships in the nation.
We are proud to celebrate 20 years of collaboration. Together we have furthered students’ academic success, enhanced their love of reading and learning, and forged a connection to libraries that will serve them their whole lives.
Right from the start The library is integrated into student’s experiences from the beginning of their academic career. Kindergarten, Here We Come prepares and inspires incoming kindergarteners and gives them a chance to tour a school bus. Then, every kindergarten class takes a field trip to the library for a class, a tour, and a friendly connection to this important family resource. We are proud to add another point of early connection: next year, the HCLS mobile unit will visit every HCPSS Pre-K to engage students and parents!
Connecting to serve students Every school has a dedicated HCLS liaison, and our educators and staffs collaborate to offer hundreds of school-based HCLS classes and events that serve those school communities. Two great examples of that work: supporting National History Day student projects, and facilitating parent and student engagement at Deep Run Elementary School (both initiatives featured in the current issue of Source, our award-winning publication). We also collaborate on summer reading lists and promotion, to help all students read and continue to learn all summer.
Our systems are connected, too! Did you know every HCPSS student has an account with the library system, built right into the student portal, hcpss.me? With one click, students can access all online library resources and reserve books at HCLS branches. In the last year, students borrowed 80,337 books, e-books, and other resources on A+ accounts.
A+ Partners also connect to offer students free support via Brainfuse: last year, HCPSS students received 12,164 free online tutoring and test prep sessions and used Brainfuse study tools 52,355 times!
A+ Makes Learning Fun In Battle of the Books, students experience reading as dynamic, social, and exciting. Teams of fifth graders read 10-14 titles over a year and practice answering questions about each book in a competition with pun-ny teamwork, costumes, and a dance party! Affectionately referred to as BOB, the contest grew from one high school gym to six sites. This year, we celebrated with 1,234 students at Merriweather Post Pavilion.
HCLS also sponsors the local competition of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. More than 7,000 students from 41 HCPSS schools participated last year alone. Saketh Sundar, one of the historic Octo-champs of the National Spelling Bee, was a four-time winner of the HCLS Spelling Bee!
More Outreach, Equity & Impact HCLS is deeply grateful to the leadership of HCPSS, library instructors, and school-based educators, staff, parents, and volunteers who help us serve children through this partnership.
We look ahead with energy and commitment. HCLS is dedicated to strategic, collaborative work and additional outreach and engagement with schools to help every student and their family enjoy increased opportunity and academic success with library resources. Whether as a volunteer, school leader, or prospective sponsor, we welcome you to reach out and join us in this important work.
Here’s to 20 more years!
Katie is the Community Education and Engagement Manager for HCLS. She loves people, the big questions, the woods, and chocolate.
The Season of Styx Malone tells the funny, poignant story about one amazing summer in small-town Indiana, when Caleb and Bobby Gene make friends with the slightly older, way cooler Styx Malone. Let’s be clear: Styx Malone is definitely too cool for school! He knows things… like about elevator trading, where you can essentially make something out of nothing. These boys are going to make a bag of fireworks (obtained by temporarily trading their baby sister) into a green moped. All these brothers want is to see the big city of Indianapolis, but their (maybe overly) protective father wants them to stay close to home in Sutton. The desire for adventure wars against the need for safety throughout the family’s interactions.
The boys follow foster child Styx into one “interesting” choice after another, hoping to achieve their dream of having independent mobility via the green moped, affectionately nicknamed Grasshopper. When things take a turn for the worse, everyone has to reconsider what a happy ending will look like. As Caleb and Bobby Gene lobby for adopting Styx, it turns out that adults can sometimes make good things happen. It’s a delightful book full of good humor from the point of view of three bored friends longing for more from summer than watering holes and doing chores (Mom was not happy about the baby sister trading).
She has received the Margaret A. Edwards Award, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the John Steptoe New Talent Award, three Coretta Scott King Honors, the Walter Award Honor, an NAACP Image Award, and been longlisted for the National Book Award.
Kekla conducts school and library visits nationwide and serves on the Writers’ Council for the National Writing Project. She holds a B.A. from Northwestern University and an M.F.A. in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts, where she now serves as faculty. Visit her online at keklamagoon.com.
CHAPTER CHATS 