It’s almost here! Start submitting brackets September 4, and voting begins September 28.
Our libraries are hosting a Battle of the Books! The theme for this year is “Page to Screen”.
Participate by submitting a bracket and voting – either online or at your library. As a bonus, participants will have the chance to win one of our movie-night themed baskets!
We vote with our hearts here! Use whatever criteria you want to to cast your vote – even if you vote for a book you’ve never read. Some books also have multiple adaptations – vote on whichever adaptation you want, because the book is the real star.
The round of 32 has been set! Download your fillable bracket and check out the competitors below.
Current Standings
Vote!
Voting for the Round of 32 opens September 28 and runs until October 4.
After you vote, don’t forget to submit your raffle entry!
Frequently Asked Questions
I’m a little lost – what is a bracket?
A bracket is a visual representation of the matches in a tournament. It is usually represented by splitting the competitors in half and placing them on opposite sides. Working from the outside in, each pair of vertical columns represents another round in the tournament and each match is represented by a connected line that leads to one slot in the next round. (In this case, the tournament is a voting system for the best book.) This bracket is what we call Single-Elimination, meaning that once a book loses a matchup it is out of the tournament. We start with 32 books organized into 16 matchups (known as the Round of 32 to represent the number of competitors). Each round has half of the entries voted out until we are down to one winner. (Here’s a color-coded visualization done by Mural.)
One way to add fun to a tournment is to predict the winner and then see how good you ending up being. To complete the bracket, look at the matchups in the outside column and select which of the two competitors should win the matchup. Write that in the next round’s slot; once you have finished predicting the Round of 16, do the same thing for the next rounds until you get your matchup.
A “perfect bracket” means that you predicted the winner of each matchup with 100% accuracy and it fairly rare. It is possible to still predict the winner without getting every match correct. A “broken bracket” typically refers to a bracket where your predicted winner is no longer possible.
How do I enter a bracket?
Either download or pick up a bracket at your local library. The PDF is a fillable form, so you can fill it out on your computer or by hand.
If you did it electronically, just email the file to info@oilcreek.org.
If you completed it by hand, you can either scan or take a picture of the bracket (both sides) and email it to info@oilcreek.org or text it to 814-499-1772. You can also drop it off at your local library.
Brackets are due September 27.
How do I vote?
Voting will be via Google Forms. The link to the forms will be shared here and on Facebook.
You can vote anonymously or get a raffle entry for our prizes by sharing your contact information (up to one vote/round).
Member libraries may also have anonymous voting options for you to participate in.
What are the prizes?
The luckiest of participants will get a movie night basket, which include a large blanket, microwave popcorn bowl, popcorn, and seasonings.
Some particpants will get a microwave popcorn bowl.
If you have a perfect bracket, there’s a special extra 🙂
How do I enter the raffles?
There are two ways to enter: submit a bracket and/or vote.
You can get one vote for each round of the voting.
Submitting a bracket gets you five entries.
Were all of these movies really based on books?
Yes! Most share their title with the books, but there are a few exceptions.
- “The Sound of Music” is based on the 1949 memoir “The Story of the Trapp Family Singers” by Maria von Trapp.
- “Stand by Me” is based on the short story “The Body” by Stephen King, published in the collection “Different Seasons”.
- “Die Hard” is based on the novel “Nothing Lasts Forever” by Roderick Thorp.
- “Lawrence of Arabia” is based on the memoir “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” by T.E. Lawrence.