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Suffolk Public Library’s ninth annual Battle of the Books (BOB) is approaching its final competition. The final battle will be on March 28 at Booker T. Washington elementary school between 18 fourth and fifth-grade teams — something Deborah Owen, a community learning senior librarian, said is a “literacy party.” 

BOB is a national reading incentive program for grades 3-12. Some areas have a state-wide BOB organization, but in Suffolk, it’s put together by the public libraries.

This year, six elementary schools are participating as well as Nansemond-Suffolk Academy and Renaissance School of the Arts. Homeschoolers are also competing on library-created teams. 

During the final competition, each team can have up to five students and is coached by a parent or teacher. They are presented with a question and given one minute to answer. Deborah Owen, a community learning senior librarian, said all the kids are encouraged to read all five books, but there tends to be one team member who is considered an expert on their book.

This year, there are five BOB books ranging in genre and content. Students read “The Mona Lisa Vanishes” by Nicholas Day, “The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra’s Needle” by Dan Gutman, “The Night Librarian” by Christopher Lincoln, “Freewater” by Amina Luqman-Dawson, and “Wildfire” by Rodman Philbrick.

Bethany Koehn, an SPL community learning librarian, said they try to always include a graphic novel and a non fiction book in the list. She also said it’s important to make sure the books are representative of the Suffolk community, and that they have an audio format to be as inclusive as possible.

“We want it to be diverse books with diverse characters, but we also want them to be good books, and not all depressing, dark books,” Koehn said. “I believe the literacy rates in Suffolk drop in the fourth and fifth grade age groups, so that’s what BOB is really tackling.”

Owen plays a large role in selecting the books for BOB and said she tries to pick ones that will help cultivate a personal love for reading in young kids, rather than only reading what’s required by school.

“Deborah is very good at being extremely intentional about selecting good books that have that magic spark, and she finds them,” Koehn said. “It takes a long time, but we find them.”

In preparation for the final battle, SPS is hosting virtual meet and greets with three of this year’s BOB authors. On Feb. 20, they had their first one with Christopher Lincoln, author of this year’s graphic novel, “The Night Librarian.”

Lincoln said it’s an “honor” to have his book chosen for the competition and he’s happy to see so many young children reading the same books together. He said the biggest theme he wants the kids to take away from “The Night Librarian” is that magic is built in books.  

SPL hosted its second virtual author meeting with Nicholas Day, author of “The Mona Lisa Vanishes” on Feb. 25, and will do another one with Rodman Philbrick, author of “Wildfire” on April 2. 

Once the BOB books are selected and sent out to participating schools, Owen said a majority of the preparation happens in the classrooms with teachers. She said the library media specialists use practice questions created by the library to help prepare the kids for the final.

Kaylena Crowell and Brooklyn Lee are also part of the SPL community learning department and wrote the BOB competition questions this year, something Lee said is a “labor of love.”

He said they try to compile a list of questions to cater to all styles of learning and they focus on reading comprehension for the elementary age group. Rather than testing the kids’ memories, he said they want to engage them in meaningful conversation with each other about the books.

“I think one of the things that makes BOB so impactful is that it’s always really a joy when you see someone, or know someone who’s read a book that you also liked, and you guys can bond over that,” Lee said. 

Overall, Owen said they try to make BOB about community reading and getting kids excited about books.

“It is just a joy to see everybody coming together over what fun and community can be found with literacy and learning,” she said.