It’s Officially UBOB Season!

I am not a very competitive person.  I have never been. I have a very clear memory of almost fainting during the mock debate team in high school. And I totally choked during a mock trial – also in high school.  

I was part of Speech and Debate, but I stuck to the poetry and prose recitation category.  

I was a spelling bee kid too – and while I made it to Washington, DC for the big spelling bee, I lost during the first round. 

I played competitive Scrabble casually (which isn’t really an option – but this just means I refused to climb the ranks past the point of the game still being fun for me).  

Ultimately, history has shown that I was better suited for the fun parts of extracurricular activities, not the competitive ones.  

Admittedly, if OBOB were at my school growing up, I don’t think I would have interacted with it much differently. But as you’ll see, there’s an alternative for those of us who are less than comfortable in a competitive space. 

For those who don’t know, OBOB is the Oregon Battle of the Books. It’s a statewide voluntary reading motivation and comprehension program sponsored by the Oregon Association of School Libraries in partnership with a Library Services and Technology Act grant. It’s a program for 3rd through 12th graders where, regardless of ability, participants are exposed to literature representing a variety of styles and viewpoints. 

Its mission is to encourage and recognize students who enjoy reading, to broaden those reading interests, to encourage reading comprehension, promote academic excellence, and promote cooperative learning and teamwork. 

So how does it work? Each year, a list of books for various age groups is published. Teams (typically 4-5 students and a coach) read the books from the list, discuss them, and prepare for competition. The competition is run like a quiz show with two teams “battling” each other. These questions are about the books featured on the list. The winning teams from each school advance to regional and eventually statewide tournaments.  

Sounds cool, right? 

But what if a school doesn’t have a team? Or what if the idea of competing formally on a team makes you break out into a sweat – or hives – or both? Just me? 

Well, that’s where we come in.  

Our Education Services team wanted to find a way for all readers in Jackson County to participate in OBOB in some capacity, so they created UBOB. This stands for Unofficial Battle of the Books. 

This brings all the same state-selected division titles whilst breaking all the rules, so readers of any age and ability can compete alongside their community. 

Librarians are truly rebels. We love some forms of rule-breaking. 

All you must do to participate in UBOB is to pick 5 books to read or listen to from the selected book lists. You can choose books from any of the lists, even if they don’t match your current grade level, or if you’re an adult. That’s right: if you’re like me and are experiencing some FOMO (fear of missing out) as an adult, you can participate too. However, you do have to choose 5 books from a single list for it to count as a completion. But you can read books from multiple lists if you want to complete the challenge more than once.  

You can track your progress, earn fun pins, and even get entered into a drawing for a $50 Barnes & Noble gift card! 

No battles (although there are sample questions if you want to quiz yourself or your friends), no stressful competition; the only person you’re really competing against is yourself. Which, as you’ve seen, is my favorite kind of competition.  

The challenge started on September 2, and if you’re just hearing about it, that’s okay. You have until May 15, 2026, to finish the challenge. If you’d like to find out more information about how to participate in UBOB, I linked to it above but can also find the link here: Battle of the Books – Jackson County Library District. There are LOTS of digital resources to help get you started.