The goals of the program are to encourage and recognize students who enjoy reading, to broaden reading interests, increase reading comprehension and promote academic excellence. Lists of books are chosen for grades three and four, grades five and six, grades seven and eight, and high school.
Teams compete at the school, district and state levels of competition.
New lists of recommended titles for each level are compiled each year by a committee of Alaskan librarians and teachers based on the Criteria for Book Selection. An attempt is made to vary the titles chosen as to genre and difficulty, so that readers may encounter a broad range of books. At the annual AkLA Conference, the official booklist for state competition for the following year is set, so that planning to obtain the titles can begin. The original idea for Battle of the Books came from a radio show in Chicago and was first used by Roz Goodman in Kodiak, Alaska in 1981. Word spread and the first statewide audio-conference was held ln May 19, 1983.