"The mission of the Birdville ISD Library Program is to collaborate with teachers and others to provide age appropriate resources and meaningful learning experiences at point of need; to advance reading improvement by fostering an interest in literature and reading; and to empower all students to become skillful consumers and producers of information and ideas."
📢Please note these are estimated times that will be affected by bus schedules, length of the Primary and Intermediate Rounds, Tie-Breaker Rounds (if necessary), etc. and are subject to change
8 - 8:40 a.m. - Teams and guests arrive
8:45 a.m. - Teams line up in the foyer for entry and introduction
8:55 a.m. - Team Entry and Introductions
9:05 a.m. - Welcome
9:15 a.m. - Primary Team Competition
10:15 a.m. - Break
10:30 a.m. - Intermediate Team Competition
11:45 a.m. - Break
Noon - Awards
Arena, Jen. Acorn Was a Little Wild
Carnesi, Monica. Little Dog Lost: The True Tale of a Dog Named Baltic
Davies, Jacqueline. Sydney & Taylor Explore the Whole Wide World
Iwai, Melissa. Gigi & Ojiji
Lacey, Josh. The Pet Potato
Lai, Remy. Star the Elephant
Mora, Oge. Thank You, Omu
Stith, John and Shaunna Stith. Black Beach: A Community, an Oil Spill, and the Origin of Earth Day
Tabor, Corey R. Sir Ladybug
Valdes, Judith B. An Ofrenda for Perro
Applegate, Katherine. Dogtown
Barnett, Mac and Jory John. The Terrible Two.
Cuevas, Adrianna. The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez
Marsh, Katherine. The Lost Year.
Rex, Adam. The Story of Gumluck the Wizard
Wallace, Sandra Neil. Between the Lines
Wiley, Melissa. The Nerviest Girl in the World.
Battle of the Books is a district academic competition to encourage children to read and become familiar with excellent literature. Birdville elementary librarians develop a primary and intermediate list of books for students to read each year. Scholars are asked to read the books and become experts. The team practices and studies until they compete.
Students who would like to try out need to read the books from the Battle of the Books list. Kindergarten through 3rd grade students read the primary books and 4th and 5th grade students read the intermediate books.
Do I have to buy the books?
No! The Green Valley Elementary Library owns all the books for students to check out. These books can also be found at the NRH Public Library.
When do I need to be finished reading all of the books?
All students should read them at home before the test is given in November
How do you choose the team?
Students who score the best on the test will be placed on the team.
I made the team...now what?
You will need to be present for all practices. The team will practice after school one to two days a week. Reading and rereading the books at home is important too. Please be sure the student understands what the story is about and looks closely at the pictures in the book, if it contains any. The students will be tested on the entire book.
When is the competition?
Thursday, February 20th, 2025
Where can I find the Battle of the Books list?
See below. There are also additional copies in the library.
Destiny Catalog search for a book here.
Our students have access to thousands of ebooks and audiobooks through Sora. Sora titles are available to Birdville students 24/7 through the app located in our my.birdvilleschools.net single sign-on portal. The Sora app can also be downloaded for Android and iOS so that students can read books from a mobile device.
Birdville has three Sora collections tailored to the unique needs of our students - Elementary, Middle School, and High School.
How to Access your Birdville Sora library:
1. Log in to the BISD Portal and click on the Sora app.
Or, read on your mobile device (follow instructions below):
Install the Sora app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, or go to https://soraapp.com.
In Sora, find your school (or enter your school's setup code), then sign in.
Browse the Explore tab and borrow a book. Your book will open so you can start reading right away.
Close the book and go to your Shelf to see all your books.
Here is the list, alphabetized by author:
The goals of the collection development policy are to ensure that all materials in our libraries support the curriculum and interests of students, staff, and families, considering the diverse interests, age levels, ability levels, learning styles, and emotional and social development levels. Materials should encourage an appreciation for informational and recreational reading, viewing, or listening.
All library materials for students and faculty will support student achievement and present varying levels of difficulty, diversity of appeal, and a variety of points of view.
The school library collection should include materials that are age-appropriate, suitable to the campus and students it serves, and include a range of materials.
Librarians will choose library materials following guidelines adopted by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. In selecting library materials, librarians and other professional staff shall ensure that the materials:
The diverse needs of students are taken into account when materials are selected, with an emphasis on ensuring that materials are free from bias and address student needs concerning equity, race, poverty, gender communities, mental health, language, and technology.
Note: Students' First Amendment rights are implicated by the removal of books from the shelves of a school library. A district shall not remove materials from a library for the purpose of denying students access to ideas with which the district disagrees.
A district may remove materials because they are pervasively vulgar or based solely upon the educational suitability of the books in question.
Obscene content is not protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Bd. of Educ. v. Pico, 457 U.S. 853 (1982)
The school district is governed by the policies of the BISD School Board - EF(LOCAL). District librarians follow the adopted overall selection policy for library materials.
The purpose of this policy is to describe the processes and standards by which our campus libraries acquire, maintain, and withdraw materials as outlined in the new Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TASLAC) collection development standards for school libraries (13 Texas Administrative Code §4.2)
All BISD-purchased digital resources are available in the BISD Portal, which can be accessed through my.birdvilleschools.net
Annually, the district will supplement the TexQuest electronic databases as budgets allow.
Individual campuses and libraries may purchase additional digital materials to supplement the distinct needs of their student population - aligned with the Birdville Board Policy
To achieve the library's objectives, a combination of the following criteria will guide selections:
Demonstrate literary merit, quality, value, and significance.
Have a high degree of user appeal and interest.
Take into consideration students’ varied interests, abilities, learning styles, and maturity levels.
Enrich and support the curriculum by stimulating growth in factual knowledge, enjoyment of reading, literary appreciation, and aesthetic values.
Include accurate and authentic factual content from authoritative sources.
Develop a balanced collection presenting multiple viewpoints on controversial issues to foster critical thinking skills based on rational analysis [see EMBLegal EMBLocal regarding instruction about controversial issues].
Represent ethnic, religious, and cultural groups and their contributions to Texas, the nation, and the world community.
Provide a wide range of background information to enable students to think critically and make informed decisions.
Represent diverse viewpoints and cultures in campus collections to reflect the unique background of its student population.
Selected materials must be recommended in both age (e.g., with a ceiling of the oldest grade/general age served, but also acceptable if recommended for younger students) and content by two of these selection aids:
In addition, book reviews in the following respected content area journals are accepted as one positive review:
A BISD librarian who has read and recommends a particular book can also serve as one positive reviewer. That review must be submitted to the Director of Digital Learning and Library Services, posted, and communicated to all librarians.
The school district's policy is to provide a wide range of media and print materials at all levels of difficulty, with a diversity of appeal and the presentation of different points of view. Despite the quality of the selection process, occasional objections to materials will be made.
The school board supports principles of intellectual freedom inherent in the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States and expressed in the Library Bill of Rights of the American Library Association, its interpretation for minors, and the Students’ Right to Read of the National Council of Teachers of English.
District Policy EF (LOCAL) - INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCES states that "District professional staff shall endeavor to maintain a balanced collection representing various views when selecting instructional resources on controversial issues. Resources shall be chosen to clarify historical and contemporary forces by presenting and analyzing intergroup tension and conflict objectively, placing emphasis on recognizing and understanding social and economic problems."
The Birdville School Board policy ( EF (LOCAL) INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCES) has delegated the responsibility to select and evaluate library and educational resources to the central office instructional staff, school librarians, and campus instructional committees. The board has designated the Associate Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, the Executive Director of Teaching and Learning, and the Director of Digital Learning and Library Services to establish reconsideration guidelines and procedures to address concerns about those resources.
All BISD library resources must also follow the BISD Selection Guidelines. Please visit the Birdville Library Resources Selection Policy and Guidelines web page to learn about Birdville ISD's objectives and criteria to select and purchase school library books and media.
Occasional objections to materials will be made, despite the quality of a district's Selection Guidelines. Persons who wish to protest the inclusion of specific items in school libraries' collections will follow the procedure given below. These steps are intended to give all parties an equal chance to be heard.
School staff will try to resolve concerns about a resource informally using the following procedure:
Click the following link to submit a request to have a resource/library book reviewed by the district-level Reconsideration Committee: SUBMIT A REQUEST
An attempt will be made at the building level to informally resolve the problem. If unsuccessful, a formal request must be submitted on the Request for Reconsideration of an Instructional Resource form provided by the District.
Upon receipt of the form, the Executive Director of Teaching and Learning and the Director of Digital Learning and Library Services shall appoint a reconsideration committee and notify the campus administrator of the request. The requester will also be notified of the receipt of the request.
The Reconsideration Committee will consider these guiding questions and principles:
The Reconsideration Committee will review the challenged material as soon as possible. All members must share copies of the book. All members must read the book in its entirety. Please note that some requests may take four-eight weeks to complete.
➡️The review committee chairs and members will take the following steps after receiving the Reconsideration Request
➡️Then, the committee must meet face-to-face or by Zoom meeting. In matters requiring a vote, all members shall have an equal vote.
➡️The committee must discuss and decide on one of the following courses of action:
Per EF LOCAL INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCES, a Reconsideration Committee will include at least one instructional staff member who has experience using the challenged resource with students or is familiar with the challenged resource’s content. Other committee members will include District level staff, library staff, secondary-level students, parents, and appropriate individuals. The principal, teacher(s), or librarian involved with the dispute should not be a review committee member.
