Photos by Audrey Anderson
“The Criminals,” posing for their photo as the literary trivia contest winners
By Audrey Anderson
Hometown Weekly Reporter
On the evening of August 7, a team of three librarians opened the Westwood library after hours and invited patrons inside to take part in a fun literary trivia contest. The community room, which can be opened separately for events, was the setting for the contest. Contestants walked into the community room to strains of high-energy pop music by the likes of the Spice Girls and similar artists. Teams were formed quickly, table were chosen, snacks were obtained from the snack table, and the contest was off!
Each team chose a name and wrote it on signs placed on their tables. The interesting names chosen were “The Criminals,” “Westwood Public Library Workers,” “Scouts,” “Aqua Chicks,” and “The Pi Eaters.”
The librarians shared that they pulled questions from two books, “Check Your Shelf” and “Book Lovers Trivia.” They organized the contest into three rounds, with ten questions per round. After each round, one librarian read the questions and gave the correct answers, while the other two librarians corrected the teams’ answer sheets. Teams shouted out in glee when they had the correct answer, or they reflected with regret saying something along the lines of “I was thinking of choosing that answer,” or “I thought that was definitely NOT the answer.”
The questions in each round were varied, with some being about children’s books, literary terms, trivia about books, classics, and various adult books of different eras. As the teams debated each question, the pop music returned to mask their discussions.
At the end of the third round, ”The Criminals” team was announced as the winner, and an official photo was taken. The winners also got to choose literary-themed prizes from a grab bag. After a little post-competition discussion, the teams returned to their homes to study for the next contest.
