PILOT MOUNTAIN — Pilot Mountain Middle School’s Battle of the Books team is state competition bound after success recently.

The team won the regional competition, which consisted of 16 teams, this past weekend to advance to the state competition along with eight other teams. Pilot Mountain Middle’s team advanced to the regional competition by winning the countywide competition earlier this year. Even with the benefit of having a county competition under its belts, the team felt the regional competition was a different experience.

“It was a lot harder,” said Emily Chilton. “We only did one round with each team.”

The questions at the regional level were also more specific than those at the county level. The students had to think a little harder and remember more of the minute details in order to succeed. There were 27 books on the reading list this year and students were responsible for answering specific questions about all of them. They also noticed that more of the questions revolved around quotes at the regional competition rather than around events or actions.

“We practiced a lot,” said Ty Brooks of how they tried to prepare for the competition.

“We answered lots and lots and lots of questions,” said Christopher Holshouser.

As they start to get ready for the state competition, which will take place May 7 at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, the students plan to divide up the list of books in order to reread them all. A few of the students have read every book on the list at least once. All of them, however, have read most of the books. Even if they have not read a specific book, however, they still know about it because of all of the discussion that takes place during practice.

With the large number of books on the list, each member of the team was able to find at least one book that he or she really enjoyed. However, there were a couple that a large number of students did not enjoy. This year, those books included “Summer of My German Soldier” and “Just Ella.”

Everyone on the team enjoys reading as is obvious by the number of times they have to read the books and the amount of effort they put into remembering details. However, a love of reading is not always enough to be a successful member of a Battle of the Books team.

“If you’re the type of person that has to pick their own books, don’t do it,” said Chilton. “Only do it if you can stand re-reading. You have to be able to re-read.”

“If you would rather read than play video games, you can do it,” said Ben Rolison.

“You have to give up a lot of time,” added Brandon Taylor.

For seven of the team members, this will be the last time they get to compete as they are eighth graders. All of them, however, are excited about the upcoming competition and are looking forward to going up against the best from each region.

Also on the team are Marco Gomez, Lindsey Badgett, Justin Burke, Jerry Galloway, Cassidy Allen, Ben Chilton and Emily Snow.

Contact Morgan Wall at mwall@mtairynews.com or 719-1929.