Battle of the Books Congratulations!

Babylon's Dumbledore Through the Decades celebrate!

This past weekend the 20th Battle of the Books took place at Stony Brook University. This year we had 42 teams come together which is the most in Battle history. We shared with the crowd the history of BotB and how the first one took place in a barn in 1997. The audience was horrified to hear that there was absolutely no air conditioning at that first program. We even heard from Tracey Firestone who was the person that created the county-wide program that year. 

She shared some thoughts with us saying, "The Battle of the Books is one of the greatest collaborative efforts I've ever seen. It was the dream of YASD members to have an event, a meeting opportunity, for Suffolk's teens who loved books - a way for there to be some version of the glory the local football team gets. I look back on those years and although I am proud to have been part of the program's history, I am even prouder to have been part of something that lives on, and even has a spin-off Advanced Battle! It's truly a labor of love that's paid back 10x over in the laughter and joy seen in the faces of everyone at the August Battle, supporting their team, as a bunch of idealistic librarians imagined in a meeting back in 1996." 

We are so grateful to everyone who participated in the event and made it what it is today. The finals took place last night. After two semi-final rounds, one final round, and two tie breakers Babylon Public Library won! Congratulations to them, our three other final teams Longwood, Patchogue-Medford, Hauppauge, and of course the 38 other teams who made this 20th year of Battle of the Books so fantastic!

To see scores and the winners of the non-scoring awards from the Morning, Afternoon, and Evening sessions check the Battle website at www.suffolkbattle.org.