This year, on the fourth- and fifth-grade Book Blitz Jr. list, there are a dozen books including “The Girl in the Lake” by India Hill Brown, “A Wolf Called Wander” by Rosanne Parry and “The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary” by Laura Shovan. 

Third-graders can read “Wings of Olympus” by Kallie George, “The Puppets of Spelhorst” by Kate DiCamillo and “Who was Jim Thorpe?” by James Buckley Jr. among their selections.

Last spring, Canyon View Elementary fifth-grade student Liviana Ramirez had read all the books on Canyons School District’s Book Blitz Jr. list.

“I really like to read and there’s some good books on the list,” she said. “My team got all the way to second place at the district last year (being edged out by Sunrise Elementary), but I wasn’t there because I was too tired with my diabetes. I want to be a part of it this year.”

Liviana was able to achieve her goal and she and her team were on stage in the final round of Book Blitz Jr; they repeated their second-place finish in the competition that had 16 teams in the district’s rounds.

Bella Vista’s team, which placed third the year before, took the top honors.

Student Anna Armstrong was excited.

“I love exploring new books,” she said. “The books they choose are great. I read them all — six times.”

She wasn’t the only one, said Lauren Robinson, a fourth-grade teacher and Book Blitz Jr. coach of eight Bella Vista teams.

“Several students read the list multiple times,” she said. “They love reading as much as I do, and they love to support each other by being a team.”

In addition to Anna, the winning team included Carter Anderson, Camden Betenson, Eli McNamer and Sammy Merback.

Book Blitz Jr. is an annual program in Canyons School District elementary schools. About 800 students signed up to participate; students can read all the books individually or with a team from a list created by district librarians. Schools hold their own competitions prior to advancing to the district level.

At the district, the teams accumulate points by answering questions with the correct name of the book’s title and its author. The top two teams accumulating the most points over three rounds advance to the final round. Those teams received books and gift certificates to The Printed Garden bookstore in Sandy. Students who read all 12 books received T-shirts.

District Library Media Specialist Gretchen Zaitzeff said the competition is open to all students.

“They don’t have to be tall and they don’t have to be fast to be a part of it,” she said. “Anybody can do it. We make sure the books are accessible.”

Zaitzeff said reading helps students’ learning.

“Besides brightening your mind, reading these books helps with your vocabulary and comprehension. If you read well and can comprehend what you’re reading, you can learn anything. Reading helps with our understanding, our empathy. It helps with perseverance; it helps with self-confidence,” she said.

It is supported by the Sandy Rotary, who presented a check to help the program this school year.  PTA also supports the program with getting volunteers to run it in schools and supplying books, Zaitzeff said.

“We buy multiple copies for each school’s library and make the books available in eBook and audiobook form,” she said, adding they work with a public library on their availability of the list’s titles.

Zaitzeff said throughout the district, students are reading more than people realize. From Aug. 1, 2023 to March 1, 2024, 33,000 students checked out 1.24 million books, not including the digital library that features eBooks and audiobooks.  

The list of books for the elementary and middle schools; competitions are created by librarians who read and review each book. 

Brighton High librarian Marissa Merket, who was part of the Book Blitz middle school program when she was Indian Hills Middle School’s librarian, said the books are carefully selected.

“The lists are compiled with notable titles, a mix between entertainment and educational,” she said. “The titles are a reflection of our community because it’s picked by librarians in our community.”

Zaitzeff said they do take recommendations and have a criterion for selection. 

“We look for different titles across genres, mostly new books that the students might not have discovered yet. This year, we have several Utah authors we highlighted,” she said.

At the Book Blitz middle school contest, Midvale Middle took the top honors, but it’s more than just winning.

Indian Hills librarian Trina McGowan said the Book Blitz programs unifies the school.

“I love that it creates a community of readers,” she said. “Kids are reading with their friends and they can discuss the books and they can meet. They’re discussing these books amongst themselves and they talk to me about them. It gives us a common ground. I love it challenges them to comprehend books by remembering what they read, not just reading them. I like the community that it creates, not just a school level, but also they know students in other schools are doing the same thing. They know there are readers everywhere.”

Glacier Hills student Peter Hall echoed McGowan.

“The best part is reading the books,” he said. “It’s cool to talk to your buddies about them.”

His mother, Kassidy, escorted Glacier Hill’s team to the district competition.

“Before Book Blitz, my son had a hard time finding something he liked to read; since joining, it’s given him good ideas from different genres,” she said. “Reading is important. It helps in everything in life no matter what he will go into if he can read and understand. I love seeing all these kids excited about reading and showing what they know in the moment.”λ