From left, coach Kim Hernandez with Milo Hernandez, Sam Bailey, Samantha Reitz, Arte McKnab and Penelope Green at the regional Battle of the Books competition in Madras on Saturday, March 11, 2023.

MADRAS — Grant County has some battlers with book smarts.

A group of five Humbolt Elementary and homeschool students took part in the Battle of the Books on Saturday, March 11, at the Performing Arts Center in Madras. The group placed third out of 12 teams in the 7B region and narrowly missed qualifying for the state competition. Only regional winners qualified for the state competition.

The five kids — fifth-grader Arte McKnab, fourth-graders Sam Bailey and Milo Hernandez and third-graders Penelope Green and Samantha Reitz — have been meeting at the Humbolt Elementary library once a week for the past six months in preparation for the competition.

The youth competed head to head with other teams from around the region, fielding questions about the name of a book and its author as well as plot details or pertinent events that took place within the story itself.

The competition in Madras was the team’s final competition of the year. Books that are the subject of the Battle of the Books in 2024 have already been released.

Team coach Kim Hernandez, who also serves as the librarian at Humbolt Elementary, praised her team’s effort and strong finish.

“Third place is excellent. I couldn’t be more proud of them,” she said.

“They worked extraordinarily hard over the last six months. They showed dedication and determination to read all 15 books and know them well.”

The team also received a standing ovation from the attendees at the event for their sportsmanship and integrity.

“The moderator made an error in our favor where we got five points,” Hernandez said. “Once she realized the error she kind of put it to the team as to whether or not they would accept those five points.”

The team declined the extra points, Hernandez said — a move that was risky at the time because the third- and fourth-place matchup was close and nobody was sure that the Humbolt team was going to win.

Hernandez said the team’s decision to decline the unearned points made her very proud. She also noted that the team received a lot of compliments for their show of honesty at the competition.

While this season is now over, the team is already reading and studying for next year’s competition.

“I’ve had some tell me that there are some books that are on the list that they have already read that they’re excited about. They’re ready to jump into next year’s books, which is super-exciting,” she said

“I’m right in there with them. I am very sad that the season is over because we’ve had a ton of fun,” she added.