By MARGO HORNER, The Mirror

The crowd was enthusiastic and the competition fierce at the eighth annual Federal Way School District Battle of the Books competition held March 27.

Students in grades three through five from 23 elementary schools competed in the game-show style competition on Thursday. They had been preparing since the beginning of the school year, said Colin Nelson, a teacher at Lake Grove Elementary.

The students were required to read 16 books and were quizzed on items such as the plot, characters, theme, setting, authors and other details.

Many fans waved banners or signs rooting for their school’s team.

After an intense competition, the Star Lake Elementary Dumbledores Army team emerged victorious.

Teammates Elena Petyon-Jones and Rachel Arnold fought a tough battle against teams with twice as many players as their team.

“We felt really really proud because we won,” Petyon-Jones said. “We were really excited because there were two of us and everybody else had four.”

The Battle of the Books trophy will be engraved with Star Lake Elementary and will be on display at the school for the following year — until the next competition.

Contact Margo Horner: mhorner@fedwaymirror.com or (253) 925-5565.