To assist students with reading, St. Edmond Elementary is introducing a new reading incentive program for third through fifth grade. Titled “Battle of the Books,” the goal is to get students excited about reading and wanting to read more while also getting parents more involved in their child’s academic success in a fun, new way.

“Battle of the Books” is a friendly reading competition where students will be joined into teams of four at the third, fourth and fifth-grade level, with a parent as a volunteer guide. The teams will all be given a preselected list of 15 books. Together they will divide and conquer the book list, reading the selected books throughout the winter. In March, the teams will hold a competition where the teams will be quizzed on the books they read.

All active participants will get to celebrate their accomplishments with a pizza party, while the winner of the competition will also receive an additional reward. Additionally, all participants in the program receive an “I Love Reading” T-shirt.

The official kickoff for the program was Dec. 9 in the St. Edmond auditorium.

The “Battle of the Books” is made possible by the generous funding of the James W. & Frances M. Ackerman Reading Program, established in 2018. All of the books for the program were purchased by the Ackerman fund, so there is no cost to families.

In addition, even though the program is voluntary on the student’s part, every third- through fifth-grade student will receive an “I Love Reading” stocking hat.