Join us for the 2025 Battle of the Books!

Date and Location of Battle:

  • Saturday, October 25th at Anne M. Dorner Middle School in Ossining, NY
  • Battle of the Books will be in person!
  • Anticipate Battle of the Books being a full school day (roughly 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, including a lunch break)
  • We will arrive early — exact time to be determined closer to Battle day

Children’s Team (Gr. 4-6) Book List:

  • Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
  • Freestyle by Gale Galligan (graphic novel) 
  • A Duet for Home by Karina Yan Glaser 
  • Adia Kelbara and the Circle of Shamans by Isi Hendrix
  • Any Day with You by Mae Respicio

 *participants will receive a free copy of each book

Teen Team (Gr. 7-12) Book List:

  • Thieves’ Gambit by Kayvion Lewis
  • Bloom by Kenneth Oppel
  • Snowglobe by Soyoung Park, translated by Joungmin Lee Comfort
  • Brownstone by Samuel Teer & Mar Julia
  • In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner

*participants will receive a free copy of each book

What is it?

  • Battle of the Books is a fun, book-based trivia tournament with teams from libraries across Westchester County.
  • To comply with the fire code at Anne M. Dorner Middle School, the Children and Teen teams will be capped at 12 children each. There will be a Waitlist of 3 children, which will act as “understudies” for the team and will be swapped in should someone leave the team or is unable to participate.
  • Participants must read all 5 selected books for their age category in order to participate. 
  • There will be 25 questions in each Battle Match consisting of a mixture of trivia and “in which book” questions. Questions about all 5 books will be included in each match. 
  • Teams can have only 5 students competing in a given match — we will take turns for each Battle to make sure everyone can participate.
  • To answer each question, team members will get to “buzz” in. The person who buzzes in first must be the person to officially answer that question for the team and after buzzing in may confer with teammates for 10 seconds before answering.
  • Teams get 1 point for each correct answer; there are no negative points. The total average number of points for each team will determine who continues to the quarter/semifinals. The number of points your team earns during each match matters more than the wins.
  • Round robin format – teams will play all other teams in their division.

Practice Meetings and Requirements

  • Each participant must fill out and submit a permission slip and photo/video release form before Friday, September 26th— no one is allowed to participate without this paperwork.
  • You must have all 5 books read in their entirety before we begin practicing.
  • Practice will start in August/September — we will practice once each week leading up to the Battle on Saturday, October 25th.
  • A few weeks before the Battle date we will meet roughly twice a week.
  • Practice may include practice matches against another library and in this case practice dates may vary.
  • Specific practice dates to come — so please make sure to check your email!
  • Please feel free to bring/donate snacks of your choice to share with your team during practice sessions!

Volunteers

  • Parents are welcome to volunteer at Battle of the Books! If you would like to be a volunteer on the day you will not be placed in the same room as your child(ren)’s team nor will you be allowed to take official photographs.
  • Volunteers can commit to a full or half day.
  • Volunteers will receive breakfast and lunch.
  • Age of volunteers: adults; teenagers are welcome but must be 11th grade and older.

In order to be a member of the Hendrick Hudson Free Library’s Children’s or Teen Team, you must commit to attending the Battle day in person at Anne M. Dorner Middle School in Ossining, NY on Saturday, October 25th.

The deadline to join the Children’s (Gr. 4 to 6) or Teen Team (Gr. 7 to 12) is FRIDAY, JUNE 13TH. Please visit our website’s Program Calendar to register – registration for each respective team can be found on the June 13th date. Make sure you register your child for the correct team!

For Children’s Team: Contact Allyson Macci at amacci@henhudfreelibrary.org or call (914) 739-5654 ext. 309 with any questions.

For Teen Team: Contact Elise Landesberg at elandesberg@henhudfreelibrary.org or call (914) 739-5654 ext. 305 with any questions.

Want to view sample questions from previous tournaments? Take a look here!