Lee County students win big in the 2026 Battle of the Books

Battle of the Books is a statewide reading competition program sponsored by the North Carolina School Library Media Association. 

The Lee County High School Winning Team poses with coaches Jamie Brown, Katie Brown and Dee Prince. The students are not in the same order as their listed names: Abigail Borrell, Paxton Davis, Danna Vicente Dominguez, Kate Glasson, Julia Heifert, Jenna Huynh and Aiden-Connor Smith.

Battle of the Books started in Lee County at Greenwood Elementary School in 2013 (possibly sooner!), and soon after that it expanded to a district-wide competition among all of our elementary schools. 

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In 2022, we expanded the program to also include our middle schools and our high schools. 

At each level students are provided a book list with titles chosen by the state, and students have until the day of competition to read as many of the books on their list as possible, which includes 16 titles for the elementary level, 10 for the middle school level, and 10 for the high school level. 

The competition is a quiz bowl-style tournament in which students have to answer questions to test their knowledge of these books. Often the questions refer to obscure details which a casual reader might either miss or forget, so the most successful students are not only those who read the most, but those who read the most carefully and deliberately. 

This year, we had five levels to our competitions in Lee County–4th grade, 5th grade, Middle School JV, Middle School Varsity, and High School, and we have the winning teams from each of those competitions here today. 

This is the first year WLMS and LCHS have won!

4th Grade Winning Team – Deep River

Coaches: Jo Ann Lawler, Ashley Matsik & Laura Maultsby

Emerson Shover

Gregory Bryant

Jaily Sanchez Candelario

Hassan Abou Awad

Oliver Connell

Shanessa Ramos

Caritina Hernandez Vega

5th Grade Winning Team – Tramway

Coach: Angela Spurlin

Buddy Hernandez

Abigail Graham

Fiana Garrett

Margaret Spivey

Cole Lyerly

Blair Bullard

MS JV (6th Grade) Winning Team – West Lee

Coached by Catherine Sweeney

Jackson Faulk

Thomas Michael

Adlin Chapman

Hailey Blackmon

Dorothy Sadler

MS Varsity (7th/8th Grade) Winning Team – SanLee

Coached by Kayle Hanson

Aurora Melpolder

Carson Thompson

Jaymee Crabtree

Indria Wood

Aziyah Caroway

Molly Bauer

Cayson Stinson

Luke Windmeyer

Maddie Moore

Allison Alvarez

HS Winning Team – LCHS

Coached by Katie Brown, Jamie Brown, and Dee Prince

Abigail Borrell

Paxton Davis

Danna Vicente Dominguez

Kate Glasson

Julia Heifert

Jenna Huynh

Aiden-Connor Smith

Congratulations students!

April 15, 2026

Provided.

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