Connecting through Competition

I ended this school year with a reading competition, adapting the "Battle of the Books" program to fit my collection and time constraints. I didn't have the resources to be a part of the national program, but I did have sets of books (about 5 in each) that had been selected by the GATE students last year to use for literature circles. (The covid closure kept that from happening.) The students were given 3 months to read the 5 books; then they chose their own groups and

each group sent one member at a time to the judge who asked him/her a question about one of the books. They were given 35 minutes to compete against each other, and the clock, to obtain points for the prizes awarded to the winning group. (Here are my rules.) I purchased some of the questions from teachers pay teachers website, and others I created myself, having read all the books. It was a fun way to encourage students to read, without penalizing them if they didn't have time to finish all the books. I'd love to do this again, but would allow time in class to discuss the books more, write reviews in Destiny (some did), and basically have more time to prepare for the battle.

Have you ever conducted a "Battle of the Books" contest, or variation thereof, at your school? Would love to hear your ideas!