Many students at Liberty find themselves challenged with endless reading from classes, from a textbook reading for AP Chemistry or a classic novel for the next timed writing essay, but five girls from Liberty challenged themselves with a greater task, reading all 15 2016-17 Gateway nominees.

Senior Emily Kissee, juniors Arianna Amann, Alisha Grant, Madi McGuire and freshman Melana Quarles took upon themselves to read this year’s Gateway nominees to participate in Wentzville School District’s second annual Battle of the Books.

“It’s a competition, kind of like a quiz bowl, where we read 15 books, the Gateway nominees for the year and we answer trivia questions about them,” McGuire said.

Battle of the Books, which is held between the district’s three high schools, was held at Holt last year, with Liberty landing in third. This year, Liberty fared better than last year, placing in second behind Timberland.

But the joy behind competing in Battle of the Books on behalf of the school comes from a simple love of reading and competition came as a plus.

“I really love reading,” McGuire said. “And I’ve always read the Gateway books and voted on them, so I thought it would be a fun way to test my knowledge of those books.”

However, the battle is not over as the girls have begun to look to next year’s competition, hoping to climb to first place.

“Hopefully next year we’re going to study a little more and get that trophy,” McGuire said.

And with the recently released list of 2017-18 Gateway nominees, the studying begins and the battle continues.