Bookworms

Description

Bookworms allows avid readers the opportunity to match their book knowledge against others of comparable ability in a “battle of the books” style competition and provides an avenue for fellowship among L.E.S.T. participants. Given the wide variety of literature available for grades 5 to 8, Bookworms will be contested at the 5th/6th level and the 7th/8th level.

2025 Titles

The following titles were selected with a goal of a diverse mix of genres and publication dates, with priority given to titles aligned with a Christian worldview. Four of the six titles on each list are starred reviews at Redeemed Reader, a Christian book review site. Besides reading the six titles for their level of competition, teams can prepare by searching each title and “battle of the books” for practice questions.

For L.E.S.T. 2026, the titles for the 5th and 6th grade competition will be shared below when determined:

  • Book 1: The Boy Who Failed Show and Tell, by Jordan Sonneblick (Biography)
  • Book 2: The Horse and His Boy, by C.S. Lewis (Fantasy, Classic)
  • Book 3: Words on Fire, by Jennifer Nielsen (Historical Fiction)
  • Book 4: Framed!, by James Ponti (Mystery)
  • Book 5: Because of Mr. Terupt, by Rob Buyea (Realistic Fiction)
  • Book 6: We’re Not From Here, by Geoff Rodkey (Science Fiction)

Selected titles for the 7th and 8th grade competition are:

  • Book 1: I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World (Young Reader’s Edition), by Malala Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick (Biography)
  • Book 2: Lifeboat 12, by Susan Hood (Historical Fiction/Verse novel)
  • Book 3: The Bletchley Riddle, by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin (Mystery/Historical Fiction)
  • Book 4: A World Without Heroes (The Beyonders, #1), by Brandon Mull (Fantasy)
  • Book 5: The Labors of Hercules Beal, by Gary D. Schmidt (Realistic Fiction)
  • Book 6: The First State of Being, by Erin Entrada Kelly (Science Fiction)

Details

  1. Each school is allowed two teams of no more than six members, one team of up to six 5th and 6th graders and one team of up to six 7th and 8th graders. If needed, a school may have a 5th or 6th grader on their 7th/8th team as long as they are not already on the 5th/6th team since a student may only compete on one team. Schools allowing 5th or 6th students to compete on the 7th/8th team need to select these students carefully as the 7th/8th books have more mature content. 
  2. For the live competition at L.E.S.T. up to three alternates may be used as substitutes, but they may be substituted only between matches, not during a match.
  3. With having six team members and six titles, a team may choose to have an “expert” for each book, but schools are cautioned that their team will be at a disadvantage if an expert is unavailable for the competition due to illness or schedule conflicts.
  4. Due to time/space constraints, Round 1 will consist of a Google Form preliminary round in order to qualify teams for the live final round. See “Round 1 (Online) Rules” below.  Round 1 play will take place in January in order to give teams enough time to read their books but also make plans for in-person participation at L.E.S.T. in February.
  5. Tournament format will be determined by the number of schools qualifying from Round 1. The plan is for the top five teams from the online round to compete against each other in a single live final round at L.E.S.T., but the number of teams qualifying in the preliminary round may necessitate play of semifinal rounds. If tiebreaker rounds are needed to decide the semifinal or final rounds, lightning rounds will be used (see rules below.) 
  6. In both the online and live rounds (except any tiebreaker rounds), the question-answer format will be the same. Questions will start “In which book…?” with the answer being one of the six titles for that level’s competition.  
  7. If tiebreakers are needed, lightning rounds will be used with a different question format. For these rounds, the questions will dig deeper into the plot, setting, and characters of each book. Rather than providing the book title in their answers, team members need to recall specific names and details for lightning rounds.  
  8. For all rounds, all questions will have the same value with teams only earning points for correct answers. There is no point deduction for wrong answers. 

Round 1 (Online) Rules

  1. The preliminary round will be played mid-January. The questions will be sent as a Google Forms quiz to the registered coach that Monday morning and the team of up to six students must complete Round 1 in a single sitting by 5pm that Friday.
  2. The Round 1 quiz may only be taken by the six students registered as the team members. No help from the coach, other adults, other students, or any sources (online or the books themselves) may be used. This round is contested using the honor system. The six students may converse with each other to decide on their answers, but the quiz is to be taken based only on what they remember from their reading at the time they take the quiz. One team member should be designated as captain and select an answer on behalf of the team. It is the captain’s job to make sure that the team is in agreement with all answers and to submit the Google Form when the team agrees that they have finished.
  3. Scores from Round 1 will be used to determine which teams qualify for the live round at L.E.S.T. If there are space issues or more than five qualifying teams, semifinal rounds will be played live at L.E.S.T. before the final round. Coaches will be notified of the qualification status of their teams within one week of the closure of Round 1. 
  4. The adult coach must sign in to the Google Forms quiz with their registered email and be present while the team completes the preliminary round. The coach may supervise both the 5th/6th team and the 7th/8th team if they take their quizzes at the same time, provided the teams are on two separate devices and do not assist each other.

Live (Semifinal & Final) Round Rules

  1. For all live rounds, each team must designate a captain to sit in the center of the team. While the team is encouraged to discuss their answers, the captain must hold up a single board with the team’s answer for the moderator. Only answers written on the white board may be accepted – no verbal responses are permitted.
  2. Since the only possible answers for the regular live rounds are the six titles on the book list, the teams will be allowed to write one title on each of their six boards before play begins so that they only have to raise the correct board. (White boards and pens provided.) Any part of the title listed in parentheses is not expected to be given as part of a team’s answer board.
  3. Live Round questions will be addressed to all teams at once. There will be 10 questions per round. 
  4. When asked a question, the team will have 20 seconds before they must show the title on their board. During this 20-second time period a team may have the question repeated as many times as they wish, but this will cut into the allotted time to provide an answer. 
  5. At the end of the 20 seconds, the captain must hold up the whiteboard with the title selected by the team. The moderator will indicate if the answer is correct or not, recording team points earned for correct answers.
  6. Each team is to have an adult “coach” who will be present at the competition. Coaches are responsible for their team’s promptness to the competition and for their team’s behavior at all times.
  7. No assistance may be given by a coach or any other audience member at any time. A substitute question may be used if there is audience interference.
  8. If a scoring error is believed to have been made, the coach must notify the moderator before the next round begins so that the error can be resolved.

Additional Rules for the Tiebreaker (Lightning) Rounds

  1. Teams will use the same seating (captain in the center) for any tiebreaker rounds, though they will start with a blank whiteboard for each team member since the 10 lightning questions consist of specific details from any one of the six titles.
  2. In the Lightning Round, the same question is addressed to all teams at once. The moderator will read the question twice and then start the clock for 20 seconds. (Teams may begin to confer before the question is read the second time.) The student with the most legible and quickest handwriting should write down the team’s answer to be held up by the captain when time is called.
  3. The moderator will look at all teams’ boards, indicating which teams had the correct answer.
  4. If the team’s answer is wrong, if the board is blank, if the moderator cannot read what is written, or if only a partial answer is provided, the answer will be recorded as incorrect.
  5. If a tie-breaker is necessary after 10 lightning questions, each team in the tie-breaker will be asked extra lightning questions. An incorrect answer will eliminate that team, with the round continuing until a winning team is determined.

Live Round Challenges

  1. Teams may challenge rulings on their own questions, either immediately after the question in the regular live rounds, or immediately after the end of a tiebreaker lightning round. Challenges may be handled by the moderator in the following ways:
    • The challenge may be accepted, and a substitute question provided;
    • The challenge may be accepted, and points awarded for a correct answer;
    • The challenge may be declined, and no points awarded or substitute question provided.
  2. The moderator is not required to check the book in question for answers, but instead will make the judgments based on the following:
    • If the question is ambiguous (ex. could have applied to another book in the list), a substitute question will be provided.
    • If the team has given the answer, but not in the exact language listed in the answer, the moderator will award points or decline the challenge, at their discretion.
    • If the team believes the provided answer is incorrect and theirs is correct, the moderator may award points, decline the challenge, or provide a substitute question, at their discretion.

How to Participate

All teams must be pre-registered by the event deadline. Registration details and deadlines are found on the Registration Page.

Awards

Awards will be given for 1st-3rd place for each grade-leveled team.