Multilingual elementary and junior high students throughout Santa Barbara County competed in a battle of literary wit at the Santa Barbara County Education Office’s Spanish-language Battle of the Books – Batalla de los Libros.

In its third year, Batalla made its in-person debut at the May 14 event, bringing together 30 students in grades four through seven from schools across the county.

As with SBCEO’s traditional Battle of the Books events, participating Batalla students prepare year-round for the event by reading — and often re-reading — books from a designated list before tackling friendly “battles” against other teams to test their knowledge through trivia questions about plot, characters and theme.

At the event, students were placed on teams with peers from different schools. Each team worked together to invent a team name, which they proudly display on their self-designed “battle shield.”

Following the shield design team-builder, students participated in three-rounds of quizzes on 16 different titles, ending with the “Batalla final,” a friendly, but intense showdown of the two top teams. 

Winners of the 2026 Batalla de los Libros were:
• 1st place went to team Los Multi-Leadores with students representing:
◦ Adams Elementary (Santa Barbara Unified School District)
◦ McKinley Elementary (Santa Barbara Unified School District)
◦ Roberto and Dr. Francisco Jiménez Elementary (Santa Maria-Bonita School District)
◦ Solvang School (Solvang School District)

• 2nd place team went to team Fantastic 4 with students representing:
◦ Peabody Charter School
◦ McKinley Elementary (Santa Barbara Unified School District)
◦ Roberto and Dr. Francisco Jiménez Elementary (Santa Maria-Bonita School District)
◦ Solvang School (Solvang School District)

• Favorite Shield of the Day went to team Los Dragones with students representing:
◦ Adelante Charter School
◦ McKinley Elementary (Santa Barbara Unified School District)
◦ Roberto and Dr. Francisco Jiménez Elementary (Santa Maria-Bonita School District)
◦ Solvang School (Solvang School District)

“Overall, it’s been really fun and I’m lucky to have this experience. I’ll definitely be back next year,” said a 4th grader from Adelante Charter School. “I feel really proud to be bilingual because it is a superpower.”

“Batalla de los Libros celebrates the many students across Santa Barbara County who are developing multilingualism, literacy, and cross-cultural understanding,” said Schools Superintendent Susan Salcido.

“We are so glad to be able to offer Batalla de los Libros as a new annual student event, creating a joyful space where language, reading, and culture are celebrated,” Salcido said.

Santa Barbara County is home to 14 Dual Language Immersion schools and thousands of Spanish-speaking and emerging multilingual students. 

Visit sbceo.org/batalla for next year’s Batalla de los Libros reading list.