The 13th Annual Canton Free Library Battle of the Books was a fantastic success thanks to every person who played a part! I’d like to recognize the teams, coaches, families and the valuable volunteers for all they did to make this event special.

We had 7 teams compete in an exciting double-elimination tournament. The following teams participated: The Abibliophobiacs with Kailin Backus, Eliza Creurer, Tessa Alguire, Olivia Francey and coach Doreen Francey; The Amazon Readers with James Richardson, Keegan Larsen, Natasha Rossiter, Jenna Larrabee, and coach Paula Jones; Furious Four with Hayden Towle, David Cheng, Oz Zuker, Tyler Zebedee, and coach Lisa Towle; Quadrilogy with Rylan Lee-Powell, Daniel Creurer, Shoham Zuker, Lucas Watts, and coach Cara Coffin; Reading Rainbow Llamas with Kaitlyn Holmes, Willow Terrell, Olivia Bourdette, Ashlyn Beeles, and coach Kim Holmes; Reading Rebels with Lena Frank, Claire Polniak, William McDonough, Colden Francey, and coach Kiley Frank; Reading Royal Knights with Charlie Todd, Josh Ayrassian, Madison Ayrassian, Ciaran O'Brien, and coach Kaitlyn Baker.

We were graciously hosted by the First Presbyterian Church of Canton, brackets were printed by Tom Dildine at SLU, prizes were donated in loving memory of Cindy Cubley by a friend, and lunch was donated by the Friends of the Canton Free Library and Dominos Pizza. I’d like to give special thanks to staff/volunteers Emily Hastings, Kelly Wilson, Mara Wilson, Michelle Filiatrault, Elias Nelson, Zach Woodley-White, Sam McBroom, and Stu Gardner for their help. I am so proud of all the teams, especially for the good spirit and hard work which they demonstrated in the competition! I’m already looking forward to next year.

Valerie White, youth services specialist

Canton Free Library