Third grade teacher Jeff Miltko brought the second annual March Madness book tournament to Emerson Elementary School last month to determine the students’ favorite reads. Using Google Forms, pupils nominated picture and chapter books, and the top 16 in each category battled it out for a shot at the title, Book of the Year.
The brackets were displayed in the main hallway for two weeks before voting began in order to give youngsters time to explore some of the nominated books they had not yet read. Each Friday in March, voting narrowed the bracket to the final match-ups. Defending picture book champion The Book with No Pictures, by BJ Novak, took home the title, once again, solidly defeating runner-up This is Not My Hat, by Jon Klassen. In the chapter book tournament, a single vote determined the champion in a hotly contested match, with the Harry Potter series eking out a win over Wonder.