Unalaska team finishes second

Published on February 25th, 2010

By ROSE COX

Unalaska High School took second place in the statewide Battle of the Books held Feb. 15-18 via audio-conference. The school's team of ninth-graders are, from left, Andrea Morales, Jennifer Ruiz, Jasmine Ruckman and Alexandria Wilson. (Courtesy Photo, Amy Purevsuren)

Eagle's View Elementary School in Unalaska ranked 13th out of 42 teams in the fifth-sixth grade bracket in the statewide Battle of the Books. Front row, from left: Taylor Holman, Ciera Ruckman, Lynette Pham and coach Cathy Leu. Back row: Harley Ruckman (Courtesy Photo, Cathy Leu)

King Cove School placed 31st out of 42 teams in the fifth-sixth grade bracket in the state Battle of the Books. From left: Sydney Wilson, Kaylee Bendixen, McKenna Gould and Shannel Newman. (Courtesy Photo, Karen Yeager)

Sand Point School student Elizabeth Turner went solo in the statewide Battle of the Books to take 16th place out of 28 teams in the high school bracket. (Courtesy Photo, Marta Varga)

Sand Point School placed 31st out of 40 teams in the third-fourth grade bracket in the statewide Battle of the Books. From left: Payton Stroud, Griffen Lee, Wolf Jackson and Ashlyn Jackson. (Courtesy Photo, Marta Varga)

Sand Point School placed 11th out of 34 teams in the seventh-eighth grade bracket in the statewide Battle of the Books. Pictured are team members Pearl Jackson, left, and Jewel Jackson. (Courtesy Photo, Marta Varga)

Eagle View Elementary School placed 28th out of 40 teams in the third-fourth grade bracket in the statewide Battle of the Books. From left: Alyssa Tungul, Naho Masaki and Ryu Kawada. Not pictured is alternate Dustin Ruckman. (Courtesy Photo, Sharon O’Malley)

Unalaska High School's team of ninth-graders nearly grabbed the gold in the 2010 statewide Battle of the Books.

Three teams were tied after the high school competition's last round on Feb. 15, when Jennifer Ruiz, Alexandria Wilson, Jasmine Ruckman and Andrea Morales headed into the sudden-death tiebreaker round.

"It was really stressful at the end of the third round," Wilson said. "Every question, we were really nervous."

The Unalaska team and a group of homeschoolers from Galena correctly answered the first three tie-breakers to stay in the running: "In which book is a character's aunt a nun?" ("Tamar," by Mal Peet) "In which book does someone keep money in the hollowed out middle of a dusty book?" ("Wicked Love" by Melissa Marr) and "In which book did a character break their nose in first grade?" ("Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie," by David Lubar).

Both teams missed the fourth question, but went on to correctly answer questions about strange designs on an apartment floor, a character who wasn't fond of Kentucky, and celibacy for both sexes.

And the question the Unalaska team will remember forever?

"In which book is it said you cannot weave a rug before setting up the loom?" ("Code Talker" by Joseph Bruchac)

"We thought we had that one right ("Eyes of the Dragon," by Stephen King)," Wilson said. "When the other team said the right book ("Code Talker," by Joseph Bruchac), we thought oh my gosh."

Galena's IDEA Program team nabbed first place, leaving Unalaska second out of 28 high school teams.

The annual battle is sponsored by the Alaska Association of School Librarians to encourage reading and increase comprehension and retention. Teams must win at the district level to qualify for the state battle in their bracket: third and fourth grades, fifth and sixth grades, seventh and eighth grades, and high school.

This year's competition brought more than 600 third- through 12th-graders from 44 districts together via audio-conference Feb. 15 through Feb. 18.

To compete, students read 12 books from a list provided by the battle, and respond to questions about the events or characters in each book by naming the title and author.

The books include classics, historical fiction and nonfiction. "It's a range of genre and topic," said coach Amy Purevsuren, who teaches language arts at Unalaska City High School.

Second place is a huge leap for the Unalaska ninth-graders, who placed eighth in the 2009 state battle.

Ruckman credits extra practice for their improvement.

"We didn't read the books as many times as last year, but we practiced the questions more and talked about the books more. We met weekly for the past month," she said.

Coming so close to winning has the team fired up to nail first place next year.

"We know we can," Ruckman said. "Next year, we'll read the books more than once, and practice every week before the battle for at least a month."

Unalaska's seventh- and eighth-grade team of Charity Haskins, Lucio Howard and Virginia Mountain placed 30th in their first attempt at state competition.

For more state results, visit www.akla.org.