Book madness at Madison
April 19, 2017
The first day of March marks the beginning of Book Madness at Madison, a new competition for students taking place in the library. Similar to March Madness, this event uses brackets to pit books against other books, instead of teams. Each round will last three weeks because that is the library checkout period. The first round ends March 22.
Participants, who have signed up by March 1, will checkout, read two books and then decide which of the two is their favorite. The books they have chosen will move on to the next bracket where the process repeats itself. This event will continue until the end of May.
“I love to read, and I often have trouble finding new books to read,” Renee Erickson (’20) said. “I figured this is a great way to get started on a new genre or find a new author.”
Librarian Alice Pleasants started Book Madness with only eight brackets, hoping to promote reading and to receive feedback from students on which new books to add to the Madison library. However, because more students than expected signed up, Pleasants doubled the number of brackets to 16 to accommodate for the 34 students participating. She hopes to double it again for next year.
“I did this at [the school I used to work at]. We started probably six years ago, and it’s just been a big hit with kids,” Pleasants said. “I had no idea it would be [this] popular here.”
The majority of the books chosen by Pleasants are from the 2017 Best Fiction for Young Adults list organized by Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). Books, such as “The Girl From Everywhere” and “The Sun is Also a Star”, are from the 2017 list, while some books, like “Six of Crows”, were chosen specifically by Pleasants.
“It’s good just to be exposed to a variety of certain mediums and not just be on your phone all the time,” Erickson said.
Although reading books is fun for many students, those who may need extra encouragement are in luck. According to Pleasants, everyone who participates will be rewarded with a donut party.
“[I hope to achieve] literacy and getting good books into kids’ hands,” Pleasants said. “I’m hoping, that out of these books, we can find books that kids’ really like.”
“Reading is entertaining and takes my mind off of things. Whenever I feel stressed or overwhelmed, reading makes me feel better. A lot of books let people experience unreal things, meaning you can sort of live through characters and their lives. You hear a ton of different perspectives and opinions that you may not hear anywhere else. Books just give another point of view on things.”
-Zoya Rohani (’19)
“My favorite thing about reading is it’s a relaxing escape from everyday. Reading can take you to different places and it’s a fun experience.”
-Jasmine Nguyen (’19)
Alexa Clark
“My favorite thing about reading is losing myself in a good book. You can explore new place, and discover new things about yourself. When I can relate to the characters, or they are well developed, I find myself giving up more of my time to finish the book and find out what happens next.”
-Laney Bell (’19)