If I only had a brain. . . The scarecrow’s lament in “The Wizard of Oz” always comes to mind when I start thinking about the Springfield-Greene County Library District’s first-ever Brain Bowl.

The event, to be held from 1:30 until 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, is the culmination of The Big Read 2008, the library’s third annual “one-book, one-community initiative” that is designed to promote literacy and public discussion.

This year, we are urging everyone to read the Newbery Medal-winning, family-friendly book, The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg. In the book, the middle-schoolers, Noah, Nadia, Ethan and Julian, and their teacher Mrs. Olinski are determined to win their state’s Academic Bowl.

"The staff committee organizing The Big Read thought a Brain Bowl would be the perfect tie-in to the major theme in the book,” said Martha Love, the library’s special projects coordinator and a veteran participant of numerous Ozarks Literacy Council Trivia Night fundraisers.

One round will be questions based on the book, but the other rounds will include a mix of easy, medium and difficult questions, including geography, inventors, acronyms and nature.

Each member of the winning team will be awarded a nifty trophy and a $10 gift card to the Friends of the Library-sponsored Between Friends Gift Shop at the Library Center or Library Station. And all participants will receive goodie bags.

Jeanne C. Duffey, the community relations director for the Springfield-Greene County Library District, can be reached at jeanned@thelibrary.org.