Battle of the Books 2025 is coming soon!
Watch this space for information about an info session in late May or early June and a link to apply to join our Croton teams.
What is Battle of the Books (BoB)?
It’s a countywide competition of young adults from more than a dozen participating Westchester public libraries. We have two Croton teams — grades 4-7 and 8-12 — that practice weekly to answer trivia questions based on five books selected by librarians from all over the county.
Teams have weekly practices before the final battle, which will take place on Saturday, Oct. 25 at Anne M. Dorner Middle School in Ossining.
About Battle of the Books
Check back soon for 2025 practice dates and times!
For 2024:
- Grades 4-7, Younger Division: Thursdays, 7-8pm, beginning Aug. 8
- Grades 8-12, Older Division: Tuesdays, 7-8pm, beginning Aug. 6
Anyone in Croton or Cortlandt who’s entering grades 4-12 (or their homeschool equivalents) in fall 2025.
The 2024 season is over! Email gwen@crotonfreelibrary.org to be put on the list for 2025.
Teams will practice once a week until the final battle on Saturday, Oct. 25.
Students receive their books in late June, and are encouraged to get a head start on reading them during the summer!
Each year, the Westchester Library System’s BoB committee nominates and votes on our books. They’re diverse, interesting, and fun!
Books for grades 4-7:
- Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
- Freestyle by Gale Galligan
- 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
Books for grades 8-12:
- 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
Each division must have at least three members each to participate.
Please note: Each team is capped at 10 participants, and if there is a lot of interest, we may need to draw for spots.
Team coaches: Nikki Rank (Younger Division) & Gillian Rothchild (Older Division)
Team adviser: Gwen Glazer
Students get to know five books inside and out, and meet other book enthusiasts! Our program is structured like a book club for the first several meetings, and then we start practicing to compete against teams from other libraries as the season goes on.