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 Ossining teams — grades 4-7 and 7-12 — 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.
When are the practices?
The practices are every Thursday night at 7:00pm
Who can be on The Ossining Library BoB team?
Anyone in Ossining who’s entering grades 7-12 (or their homeschool equivalents) in fall 2025.
What’s the time commitment?
Teams will practice once a week until the final battle on Saturday, Oct. 25. We may add an additional day of practice as the battle draws near.
Students receive their books in June and are encouraged to get a head start on reading them during the summer!
What are we reading?
Each year, the Westchester Library System’s BoB committee nominates and votes on our books. They’re diverse, interesting, and fun!
Books for grades 7-12:
- 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
Who are the coaches?
Head Coach: Suzy Zavarella
Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator: Louis Crisci
Why participate in BoB?
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.