Third-grader Mona Grossaint was excited to see the final round of Hawthorn Academy’s “America’s Battle of the Books” competition.

“I like you read 20 books and then teams compete against each other, so everyone gets a chance to be part of it,” she said. 

Led by literacy coordinator Beverly Griffith, teams answered questions to earn points—two for naming both the book and author, and one for just the title.

“It worked out well for us. We got all the way to the round before this final one when we lost by two points,” Mona said.

Isa Mesker, team captain and the only member allowed to give answers, recalled the moment they were stumped.

“We knew a lot, but then it got hard when my teammates weren’t telling me the answers because they weren’t sure they were right,” she said.

Their team, “The Reading Thunders,” made it to the semifinals, where they were narrowly defeated by “Golden Fire,” who went on to win the 19-team competition. Winners received medals crafted by Isa’s father, kindergarten teacher Stephen Mesker, using the school’s 3D printer.

Third-grader Lukas Gadd, whose team “Fire Dragon Readers” lost to Mona and Isa’s team by just one point, remained positive.

“It’s OK, because my favorite part is that everyone gets an opportunity to read,” he said. “It helped me increase my fluency so when I go do Acadience (standardized testing), I will read better.”

Griffith said the program boosts fluency and comprehension—along with improved test scores.

“I love to see the kids’ confidence when they know the answers, then be anxious for the next question and ultimately, excited when they figure out they’re winning or won the battle. It goes beyond test scores.

This helps kids be excited about reading books,” she said, adding many students will want to start reading books this summer for next year’s battle.

Isa’s favorite of the 13 books she read was “Orphan Train Girl.”

“I like how there were situations that felt they were real life,” she said.

Lukas enjoyed “City Spies” while Mona said she liked every book in the competition.

Hawthorn held 110 reading battles this year, expanding the program to include second and third grades.

Other winning teams included “Heart of Souls” (second grade), “Dragon Legends” (fourth grade), “Book Readers” (fifth grade) and “Baddy Bops” (sixth grade).