Battle of the Books is an optional reading activity open to all Jefferson students. It typically begins in December with students forming teams of between 3 and 5 players and choosing a team name. Each member is responsible for reading at least one book from the battle list of 12 titles and passing the ReadnQuiz test on that title. All 12 titles must be read and the quiz passed by someone on the team for the team to qualify to play. Qualified teams begin to battle in March. Team members work together to answer trivia questions on each book and whichever team answers the most questions correctly wins the battle. The Jefferson championship team is memorialized on a plaque hanging in the library and goes on to compete against the winning teams from the other Olympia School District middle schools.
Jefferson has participated in the Battle of the Books since 2008. Jefferson teams winning the district championship and bringing the traveling trophy to Jefferson for the year are:
- 2009 Buck-A-Nears
- 2012 Reader’s of the Round Table
- 2015 Bard’s First String
- 2019 Pumpkin Spice Lattes