The annual Battle of the Books competition took place on Friday, April 16 in the Edison High School Media Center. In this competition, teams of up to six students were required to read a total of nine books, which rotate every year with new titles. The books for the 2023–2024 year were as follows:
One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus
New David Espinoza by Fred Aces
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Mary Bloody Mary by Carolyn Meyer
Firekeepers Daughter by Angeline Boulley
Skyward by Brandon Sanderson
Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter
Last Night I sang to the Monster by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
During the competition, teams had to identify a book based on specific details or quotations from the literature. Questions could range from the names of chapters to the personalities of different characters.
“In what book was the character’s favorite song ‘Only Girl’ by Rihanna?” was one of many questions asked by the school’s media center specialist, Ms. Doreen Stocker, to the participating teams during the school battle.
This year, three teams out of the seven competing teams won the intra-school competition: a senior team took first place, and a freshman team, as well as a senior team, tied for second place. These teams advanced to an inter-scholastic competition hosted at the Passaic County Technical Institute, a vocational school located in Wayne.
After a few hours of competitive trivia between the teams from different schools in Central Jersey, the freshman team, “Math Competition Club,” with members Akshat Dubey ‘27, Vijeta Garg ‘27, Rithika Gunasekaren ‘27, Solai Ramasubramaniyam ‘27, Nishchal Talugula ‘27, and Hasini Vummaji ‘27, won first place in the competition.
“Battle of the Books seemed really competitive before we went to Passaic,” said Hasini Vummaji ‘27, a member of the Math Competition Club. “Once we went there, we all realized that we were just competing to have fun, and getting first place was a bonus from our hard work.”
Another team member of the Math Competition Club, Solai Ramasubramaniyam ‘27, said “Not a lot of people know about Battle Of The Books, but it’s actually a lot of fun.”
“Our team worked hard to win and we can’t wait for next year!” added Ramasubramaniyam.
For the senior teams, this competition was their last time taking part in Edison High’s Battle of the Books team.
“Each year I’ve had the privilege of being a part of such a great team,” said Jia Shah ‘24, a member of a senior team that participated in the regional competition. “I also loved reading the books—they were all so interesting and I got to expand my taste most times and read a book that I wouldn’t pick up on my own.”
