Hilltop students do battle in books tourney

SPARTA - After months of reading and preparation, five teams representing Hilltop Country Day School in Sparta traveled to Kent Place in Summit for this year’s first “Battle of the Books” tournament, a statewide reading incentive program designed to encourage children to read and have fun while reading books. Upper School students who participated were fifth-graders Meredith Coplon, Harrison D’Amico, Jeremy Joachim, and Alexandra Rogers; sixth-graders (K) Haylie Farr, Tyler Grant, Rakesh Mitra, Kelsie Redburn, Cody Wilson and Marcella Winograd, (M) Hadley Ingersoll, Kevin Masone, Gray Prant, Samantha Stein, Frank Taylor and Conrad Wehner; seventh-graders Eric Albanese, Alyssa Armellino, Nicole DeLuca, Charlotte Gordon and Nathaniel Malon; and eighth-graders Brendan Brence, Drew Romano and Patrick Trusio. Grades eight and six-M earned second place plaques. Now in its fourth year at Hilltop, the school’s “Battle of the Books” activities are directed by Nan Katzenbach, school librarian. “Battling,” which consists of questions about each book, takes place in the spring with in-school and out-of-school battles. For information about the Hilltop School, log on to Hilltopcds.org.