4th Annual Ko’olauloa Battle of the Books

The first Friday in April, the Kahuku Ballroom at Turtle Bay Resort transformed into the 4th Annual Ko‘olauloa Battle of the Books. A team of 40 public librarians and volunteers set up privacy shields,
dry erase boards, challenge cards, score boards, etc., while Hawaii State Public Library System (HSPLS)
staff erected large sponsor banners and mic checked the audio visual equipment. Meanwhile, outside of
the ballroom volunteer coaches were checking in their teams for their final battle of the school year.

Since 2015, Kahuku Public and School Library of HSPLS has invited approximately 100 elementary school children from the North Shore of O‘ahu to participate in the ultimate reading competition – the Ko‘olauloa Battle of the Books. Participants range from 1st to 6th graders hailing from Sunset Beach, Kahuku, Laie, Asia Pacific International School, and Hau‘ula Elementary Schools.

Coaches prepared the students with quizzes about the books, plot and character reviews, and by creating flash cards, graphs, and posters about the reading lists afterschool throughout the school year. There are 13 books per list and if everyone on the team reads or listens to all 13 books on the list they have a better chance to earn points.

The district competition is made up 6 rounds of questioning. Earlier rounds are intentionally quiet
Hau’ula Elementary Division lll Winners Photo: Hepua Spalding with restricted access so students can concentrate. The next two rounds include identification quizzes and double book challenge questions. The final rounds are done after a short dinner break when families, friends, and special guests are invited in to see the students buzzing in first to answer questions correctly. This is definitely the most climatic point of the entire competition as the audience starts cheering for their favorite school.

Friends of the Library Kahuku (FOLK) volunteers secured ample donations from local businesses to award the winning teams and all participants. This truly is a community program where librarians, teachers, parents, principals, businesses, volunteers, and of course, hardworking students come together to celebrate the joy of reading. After the competition, parents and coaches were already committing to next year’s program and requesting the book list as soon as possible.

Congratulations to Hau‘ula Elementary, this year’s 1st place winners for all three divisions. Kahuku, Laie Elementary and the Asia Pacific International School took home trophies, as well.

‘Olelo Executive Media Production captures the competition and videos are available at librarieshawaii.org/Kahuku. Air dates for this year’s event be will posted soon.