The Dedications rule

My class has struggled with trying to name itself this residency. At last we came up with a name that we can all agree on--the Dedications. (My roommate Margaret came up with it in the middle of the night after drinking overly strong Brazilian drinks.)

Last night, four of my classmates (Barbara, Page, Nancy, Margaret) and I were teammates in Vermont College's first annual children's literature trivia contest. The contest consisted of three rounds. In the first, each 4- or 5-member team (6 or 7 teams in all) answered questions like who did Lemony Snicket dedicate each book too. Each team wrote their answer on a half sheet of paper. When the time was up, each team held up its answer. Every team with a right answer got a point. The first round ended after 15 questions and a few bonus questions. The two teams with the most points advanced to the semi finals.

Rather to our amazement, my team advanced.

The second round was similar to Jeopardy. There were three categories: first lines of novels, films from books, and something else. These questions were harder and varying points.

The other team went first because they had more points going in. When they couldn't answer, we got a chance, and we could ask someone in the "audience" for help. We got some critical help. At the end of the semi finals, my team was ahead by three points.

For the final round, we first had to decide how many points we wanted to bet. I wanted to bet them all, but cooler heads prevailed and we bet conservatively. The final question was brutal.

What three authors associated with Vermont College had novels nominated for National Book Awards this year, and what are the titles of the novels? I knew two of the authors but couldn't get the titles exactly right. Luckily, the other team didn't know either. Since we bet conservatively, we won 4 to 0.