March Madness has come to DFMS! But this competition is between books, not basketball teams. (Sorry for stealing your line, morning announcements)
People who enter the competition have to guess the outcome of seven or more matches correctly to win a prize. We don’t know what the prize is yet (no spoilers) but the fact that there is a prize might motivate people to win.
This year has some popular and new books! Some of them are Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hot Mess, Holes, and Percy Jackson. The competition works like this: People vote for the books they think will win. The books that got the most votes in the first round move on to the next match. And that will repeat until the champion is announced. Some of our past winners were Lois Lowry’s The Giver and Lynda Mullaly Hunt’s Fish In a Tree. Sixth grader Matthew Moon commented, “From the competition, you can find what books are good for you.”
I had the opportunity to spend some time with the school librarian and the creator of the March Madness competition, Ms. Elsen.
Q: What inspired you to create March Madness for the library?
A: The March Madness competition is something I had heard about in other libraries, and it seemed like a fun way to build excitement about books and reading. I did it at my previous school, and this is the fourth year we’ve had it at DFMS.
Q: How do you choose the books that enter in the competition?
A: I look at books that have been popular and try to get a mix of genres–some graphic novels, some realistic fiction, some mysteries, etc. I start with two books of each category going up against each other–for example, two graphic novels. This year I had two books that won the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award against each other. I try to do different books each year, though next year, I may do a “Best of the Best” and have all the winners of past years as well as some general favorites.
Q: What is the goal of this event?
A: Through this event, I hope to get students talking about books, learning about new titles, and hopefully checking out some new books to read!
The finalists to be the champion of DFMS Library March Madness 2025 are Heroes and Percy Jackson. Which books did you vote for?