Battle of the Books Round 8

A few days ago was my 8^th and final round in the Battle of the Books. The Hypernovas lost 8-7 in a 10-point match against McAuliffe’s team. I feel that I have gained a lot of experience through this year’s Battles – I have learned many lessons in some very well-written books, and have learned how to be a good leader. One of the lessons I have learned is from Wonder, a book by R.J. Palacio. The lesson is “never judge a person by his looks, judge him by his personality.” In the book, August, a kid who is going to middle school, has a few genetic problems that make his face look abnormal. In the end, though, after the school year had passed, everyone starts to respect August for his courageous personality and kindness. I have learned how to be a good leader through the Battles, too. I learned that you just have to take full responsibility sometimes, and there’s no way around it. I had to read all of the books to keep my team alive, a very hard task. I also learned that pressuring people never helps; you have to ask them what the problem is and try to help. This happened with Kevin – I kept pressuring him to read the books, but he never did. It was a while later until I figured out from asking him that he couldn’t get his hands on any of the books (he always seemed to have something overdue or didn’t find the book he needed). I solved the problem by showing him the set of all 12 Battle Books that were reserved for the champions of Alcott. You could check them out even if you had overdue books, but you would have to be one of the champions. Even though my team didn’t win, it still was a very beneficial event!