Brianna had the chance to be on a Battle of the Books Team this year. This entails a group of 4 kids that collectively read 20 chosen books. Then they compete against other teams. The are asked specific questions about the books and the team that gets the most right win. Well this is right up Brianna's alley, especially since she is a voracious reader. She alone read several of the books and memorized all of the authors as well. She was teamed with 3 other girls in her class that are also similar to her. They had a series of several preliminary rounds and blew all of the other teams out of the water. (Her team name was House of Sixty Readers.)
I volunteered to help with the event and was able to watch her team several times. Brianna did amazing and knew every answer that pertained to the books she read. After the preliminary rounds her team was the #1 seed going into the tournament. It lasted several days and Brianna loved it. Her teacher and class came to every round to support them. I was so impressed.
Unfortunately in the semi-finals they faced a tougher team and by luck of the draw had some challenging questions. They ended up losing in a tiebreaker :( It was so heartbreaking. I was so proud of Brianna and her team but the disappointment was evident. I took it really hard as her mother, which surprised me.
Later that day I read an article in the March Ensign titled Raising Resilient Children. It was an excellent article and reminded me of the valuable lessons our children learn by participating in many things and the outcomes won't always be successful. It just enables our kids to become stronger individuals and also more empathetic to others. I appreciated the timing of the article after such a sad result.
Brianna is excited to participate next year and I am sure she will be even more prepared next time. In the meantime she had a fabulous experience as well as read many good books.
No comments:
Post a Comment