By Wendi Reardon Price
Staff Writer
wprice@mihomepaper.com
INDEPENDENCE TWP — After two rounds of ten questions each round, it came down to three teams out of 15 tied for second place in the 2025 Battle of the Books District Championship at Independence Elementary, March 4.
Battle of the Books is an annual reading competition held by Clarkston Community Schools. The program aims to foster a love for reading among youth in the community by offering students a chance to show off their knowledge while facing off against their peers.
It wasn’t until question seven in the tiebreaker that the Literally Lions bowed out after answering the question with the wrong age.
Three questions later, Bailey Lake Elementary students Rowyn Pettinato, Adelyn Price, Aubrey Sanger and Archer Sella in team Books Ahoy! took a moment to let the victory sink in. They had the right answer – Dare, Disturb and Deign to the question “In the book, Aru Shah and the End of Time, what are the three paths that Mini and Aru must choose from in the Halls of Death?”
The win guaranteed them second place during the championship. They also won best name.
The Verbal Gerbils with Celeste Bunker, Grace Conley, Lindi Drallos, Everly Smith and Felicity Yedlin from IE won first place.

Pine Knob Elementary All Star Bookletes with Luke Akers, Noah Akers, Dean Hogan, Trenton Smith and Damon Repinski finished in third place.
Chapter Chips from Bailey Lake Elementary with Brooklyn Edick, Sarah Greib, Sofia Kravets and Veronica Rouland won Best Team Costume.
Sharon Crain, Elementary Division Media Specialist for CCS and Battle of the Books Coordinator, shared there were 116 battle teams with 517 students and 177 coaches participating from all seven elementaries in Clarkston Community Schools this year.
Part of the battle journey included creating a team name and costume; mock battle and building battle; team work and sportsmanship.
“I cannot begin to share how much my heart overflows with anticipation, joy and pure happiness throughout the battle season,” Crain said. “I am so proud of our battle students.”
The five books chosen for this year’s Battle of the Books were Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai, El Deafo by Cece Bell, Riding Freedom by Pam Muñoz Ryan, Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi, Whoosh! by Chris Barton and The Secret Subway by Shana Corey.
Teams had 45 seconds after a question was asked to answer it. Judges awarded a point for each question answered correctly, tabulating the points after both rounds.
“I want to personally thank all of the Clarkston schools staff that was a part of this year’s battle season,” Crain shared. “I simply could not do it without all of you. Thank you for supporting this amazing literacy program and our students.”
A big thank you also went out to the Clarkston Independence District and Springfield Township libraries, Friends of the Library in each townships, The Union, Culver’s and ZapZone.

  Battle of the Books, Clarkston Community Schools, Independence Elementary