The excitement was unmistakable as Eastmont Middle’s Team Peeta finished each other’s sentences and laughed over their favorite reads. Their enthusiasm matched their success: they had just won Canyons School District’s Book Blitz, beating Butler Middle’s We Love Dictionaries and Indian Hills Middle’s All About Books.
Book Blitz challenges middle school teams to read a curated list of books across genres, then compete by answering questions using book titles—and, when possible, authors. A similar competition, Book Blitz Jr., is held for elementary students
The book lists are available during the summer and students are already reading for the 2025-26 competition.
Eastmont eighth-grader Tawny McEntire started early, reading through the list last summer. Her teammates split the remaining titles in the fall.
Eighth-grader Mary Halladay credited their friendship to a love of reading—ranging from historical fiction to fantasy—for their win.
“We’re all best friends and we did it to have fun since we like to read books,” she said. “We work well together, and we all just trust each other enough to go with what other people decide what the answer is.”
Eighth-grader Caraline Herzog added: “We talked things out and listened to each other, that’s important.”
Preparation was key. Tawny created 30 pages of study questions and attended every practice.
“Our team chemistry was a lot better and supportive because we practiced,” she said.
Naming the team was easy, said teammate Millie Rich.
“We were watching the Hunger Games and said as a joke, we all are on Team Peta so that’s what we called ourselves,” she said, pointing to their team shirts with a Studio C parody quote on the back. “We laughed a lot, but we learned too. ‘Fallout’ was a phenomenal book. I didn’t think I would like it because it’s nonfiction, but I learned more than I think a lot of Americans know about our history.”
Midvale Middle School teacher librarian/media specialist Judy Rembacz sees the impact of Book Blitz.
“It’s exciting when everyone is reading books, sharing what they read with others,” she said. “They love the competition quizzes, seeing what they know, and it’s good to see how they support one another.”
Mt Jordan Middle teacher librarian Jana Mumford helped with Book Blitz Jr.
“Getting books in kids’ hands is a win and they love the competition aspect,” she said. “I love seeing the younger grades have fun with it. Their enthusiasm feeds right into our programs at the middle school.”
Each middle school brought two teams to the district competition. At the elementary level, 19 schools participated with more than 700 students.
District Library Media Specialist Gretchen Zaitzeff, who organizes the program, praised the teamwork.
“The sportsmanship amongst the teams has been stellar,” she said. “And cheers should go out to the parent volunteers, who along with the school facilitators and coaches, have been working all year with our students to be successful at all the levels.”
Sandy Rotary has supported Book Blitz Jr. for two years.
“Locally, we help our community’s youth and focus on education so Book Blitz fits perfectly,” Sandy Rotary President Brenda Suta said. “We know these kids are the future and education uplifts them to learn and solve things in the world.”
This year, a four-way tie in the early rounds led to a playoff. Peruvian Park, Ridgecrest and Willow Canyon shared the win, with Alta View as runner-up. All four teams received books and book bags.
Ridgecrest fifth-grader Safron Schneider recalled the tense tiebreaker.
“It was nerve wracking when we got called up there,” she said. “We told each other ‘We got this’ and we joked about one of the boys at our school who wore his lucky socks for us, so we thought about that and were able to focus.”
Safron, who read all 12 books, began last summer.
“’Select’ is about a girl who is a good soccer player, and I also play it, so I could relate a lot. ‘The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary’ had a lot of fifth-grade experiences I feel a lot of fifth-graders can relate to,” she said.
Aiming to become a writer, Safron values reading.
“Reading always helps me improve my knowledge of words, and I always get lost in a good plot line,” she said.
Granite fifth-grader Brent Fillerup of the “Book Bears” also read all 12 books.
“This was my first time competing and it was really good,” he said. “I wanted to read ‘Cookies and Milk’ as I wasn’t familiar with it and heard it was based on a true story.”
Willow Springs fourth-grader Kate Simons of the “Sugar Readers” was eager to participate.
“I really like books and read every day,” she said. “’A Wolf Called Wonder’ was a fun book. It was from the point of view of a wolf, which I never have thought about before.”
Her classmate, Rebekah Sutton, enjoyed both the books and the friendships.
“I liked ‘Saucy;’ it’s about a pig and I love pigs,” she said. “A lot of the competitions were close, but that’s part of the fun. I’m planning to read all the books this summer.”