Copeland Elementary School third grade students claim the Name That Book district title.

 April 3, 2024—Copeland Elementary School won the annual Name That Book competition, held March 26 at the Berry Center.

The winning team, coached by Copeland Librarian Jennifer Russell, was comprised of third grade students Zoey Cheng, Isabella Leal, Juan Montoya, Sophia Recinos, Megan Seenath Galvan and Eloise Whipple.

“It was a thrill to win the district Name That Book competition,” Russell said. “But seeing my teams’ hard work pay off in various forms year after year brings the most joy. Name that Book is a reminder of the big things our students can accomplish. It’s a reminder that the program goes beyond the books and sets our students up for success in competitive situations, public speaking, working as a team and being gracious winners and losers.”

A total of 37 campuses participated in this year’s competition. Campus librarians work year-round to curate a list of 100 books for the official list and they write clues used for practices and campus level contests. Third, fourth, and fifth grade students on participating campuses are provided a list of books and are encouraged to read as many of the 100 books as possible. Students’ knowledge of the books on the list is celebrated with a series of competitions that ultimately leads winning teams to regional and district level contests.

“At first we thought it would just be for fun and that we wouldn’t get past the school competition because we’re third graders,” Zoey Cheng said. “But then we somehow made it past the school competition, and we became serious about winning!”

Each region was comprised of six to seven teams. The winner of the region immediately advanced to the district competition that also took place the same evening. Black, Post, Emery, Copeland, Rennell and Lee elementary schools were named regional champions and moved on to the Name That Book finals.

“My favorite thing about Name That Book is working as a team to win, it’s not just one person,” Isabella Leal said. “I like it being a reading contest because I can experience lots of good books and reading is one of my favorite things to do.”

Christina Cole, chief officer for school leadership, was the official “Clue Caller” during the competition. Judges included Jenifer Jones, coordinator of elementary reading, language arts, and social studies; Charmion Mohning, coordinator of secondary reading, dyslexia and english language arts; Rhonda Esterak, Horne elementary school librarian; and Jennifer Garstecki, coordinator of library services. Todd Sepulveda, director of instructional technology, served as the official timekeeper.