Pictured are UHS Battle of the Books team members (L to R): Abby Johnson, Taylor Short, Emma Peters, and Audrey Powers.

A UHS Battle of the Books (BOB) team attended the final round of competition at the Marshalltown AEA on April 26. UHS students attending the final battle were: Abby Johnson, Emma Peters, Audrey Powers, and Taylor Short. Team member, Teagan Prouse, was unable to attend the final battle but completed in the regional online testing.

BOB is a reading competition designed to encourage students to read a variety of literature. Teams of five or six students read novels from a pre-selected list of 28 books. Books include the genres of historical fiction, realistic fiction, nonfiction, fantasy and science fiction. Students on the BOB team have each read five or more books since September.

In March, 73 teams from across Iowa “battled” by identifying authors’ names and answering fact-based questions about the books online. The top 16 teams were invited to Marshalltown for the final contest. The Union “That’s What She Read” team placed 10th at the AEA competition.

The BOB team members are students in the SAILS gifted program with Mrs. Vada Elliott.