Battle of the Books

The purpose of the Battle of the Books competition is to promote literacy among deaf and hard of hearing middle school students. The competition also helps promote a spirit of academic competition and good sportsmanship and encourages critical thinking skills among middle school students.

The Battle of the Books is open to teams of middle school students currently enrolled in recognized schools or programs for deaf and hard of hearing students in the United States. Schools or programs may be residential schools, day schools, mainstream programs, or any other type of educational program having middle-school age deaf or hard of hearing students. The Youth Programs shall determine what constitutes “recognized schools or programs.” Where a single school or program does not have enough students to field its own Battle of the Books team, teams may be assembled by combining students from two or more schools or programs in reasonable proximity to each other. In some cases, as in a school in a rural area, the school may petition in writing, for special consideration by the Youth Programs to include a larger radius. Other options are for a mainstreamed or home-schooled student to join the team of a local school or program for the deaf. All written petitions for special consideration will be considered by the Youth Programs.

There is no limit to the number of schools that can participate in the Battle of the Books competition. Each school can register up to three teams (one team per division).

Each team must have a minimum of three readers. There is no limit to the number of readers on a team, but a maximum of nine readers is suggested so each reader has a chance to play in one or more preliminary matches. A more comfortable number would be 4 or 5 readers per team to give each reader enough playing time.

All participating schools for the Bison Division will be expected to pay a $100 registration fee to help offset Battle of the Books operating costs. All participating schools for the Buff and Blue Division will be expected to pay a $250 registration fee. If a school participates in more than one division, they are expected to pay the registration fee for each team.

For the Preliminary competition, it is up to the participating schools to decide how to purchase books that the students need for the competition. Some schools obtain money from sponsors or a foundation to purchase the books. Some schools purchase the books using allocated money for books. Some schools have students’ families purchase the books. The list of books will be shared with each chaperone. For the National competition, Gallaudet pays for the books and ships them to schools. The books should then be kept by the students.

Families and visitors are more than welcome to watch the preliminary competition at their children’s schools. For the national competition, the schedule will be posted on the website. There is no charge to attend. Families are more than welcome to travel to the national competition to support their child(ren).