Troy Middle Schoolers Choose 'Troybery' Winners

Troy Middle Schoolers Choose ‘Troybery’ Winners, Skype with Authors

You’ve heard of the Newbery Reading Award, but have you heard of the Troybery? A mock-Newbery medal program currently in its 18th year, Troybery began as a way for the Troy middle school media specialists to encourage students to read and select what they thought was the best book of the previous publishing year.

Beginning in the Fall, students read, nominated, and then voted on books via a “March Madness-style” tournament, which according to Boulan/Smith Media Specialist Christina Chatel was “Really something to see! Students vied for opportunities to read the books, literally snatching the books out of each other’s hands for the chance to read the next title.” The books’ popularity was tracked on a sports-style bracket grid, as students hoped for their favorites to become finalists.

And on Friday, 120 students (30 from each middle school) converged on the TSD Services building for the big reveal, and more. The meeting room buzzed with excitement, as the kids took their places. The first surprise was seeing the author of Troybery nominee "Ahimsa" Suriya Kelkar with a stack of her books (which kids pre-ordered). Kelkar shared that her book about the Indian freedom movement was inspired by her great-grandmother, and graciously signed all books.

Next up, after welcoming remarks from TSD Deputy Superintendent Mark Dziatczak, was a special reading of an original poem that mentioned 30 books, written by Mlahat Mahmood. Then student emcees from each school (Hardik Gupta from Baker, Ashley Richman from Larson, Allison Liu from Boulan, and Deepti Aggarwal from Smith) moved the program along by calling more students to read poems, display artwork, and share original songs inspired by the books. Then finally came the unveiling of the finalists and winner.

With much excitement and fanfare (while the kids clapped on their legs to simulate a drumroll): 3rd runner up was “Forget Me Not” by Ellie Terry, 2nd runner up was “Restart” by Gordon Korman,1st runner up was “Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus” by Dusti Bowling and the grand winner was….”Refugee” by Alan Gratz. Cue clapping and cheering in celebration by all in attendance—the crowd went wild! But the surprises were not over, as AV technicians connected the big screen to Skype---the kids lined up at the podium, and were able to talk to two of the Troyberry nominee authors, Lisa Thompson (“The Goldfish Boy”) in England, and Dusti Bowling (“Life of a Cactus) in Arizona in real time. “It was so cool to be able to talk to the actual writer of the book, and ask questions, all the way in England!” said Deepti Aggarwal (Smith). Ah, the marvels of technology. The ceremony ended with refreshments for all, as the kids excitedly talked about the books, and looked forward to next year.

“Troybery is a great way to encourage recreational reading,” said Baker/Larson Media Specialist Kathy Loch. The students agree. “In school, we’re always reading for history, or English, or another class. This contest makes us want to read other kinds of books, for fun,” said Boulan eighth grader Sanjana Sharma. “Troybery is definitely motivation for me to read more books. I have enjoyed the program so much, I joined the 2018 Troybery Committee and am an active member, spending a lot of my summer looking for and reading potential Troyberys for next year!”

For more information, or to find a complete list of Troyberys, visit http://troymiddleschoolmediacenter.weebly.com/troybery.html

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Photo1: Students from every middle school pose with Troybery finalists, L to R: Dana Garcia (Smith), Nikhil Mahajian (Boulan) Jacob Lindholm, (Baker), Joshua Eapen (Smith), Baylie Tull (Larson), Brianna Johnson (Larson), Jeremy Mason (Larson) Varsha Penumalee (Boulan), Shreyana Keeta (Baker)

Photo2: Troy kids got to skype with British author Lisa Thompson, who wrote Troybery Finalist 'The Goldfish Boy.' What a great opportunity connect with an author all the way in England in real time, and be able to ask questions!

Photo3: Author of Troybery nominee book "Ahimsa" Suriya Kelkar, brings books to sign and poses with students (L to R): Allison Liu (Boulan), Deepti Aggarwal (Smith), Hannah Graham (Boulan) Joey Slaviero (Boulan) and Joao Lovadimo Garcia (Boulan)

Photo4: Kids with the March-Madness-style bracket and the Troybery nominees. (L to R): Baker 7th grader Harrison Otton, Baker 6th grader Samantha Steiner, Boulan 7th grader Saima Ahmed, and Larson 6th grader Jessica Gao.

Photo5: Wideshot

Photo6: Finalists