Fraser Valley Regional Library

How it works

Librarians from Fraser Valley Regional Library work with school librarians to excite grade 4 & 5 students about the Reading Link Challenge.

Interested students form teams of six or seven players. Each team is responsible for knowing the contents of six books. Every player is responsible for reading at least one book. Kids get the books in November and read until February. All teams within each school challenge each other to get a winning team.

In February and March winning teams from schools come to the branch library to determine an inter-school winner. The winning team goes to the Grand District Final. At this event, parents will be invited, refreshments will be served and prizes will be awarded.

Reading Link Challenge Student Newsletter (pdf, 206kb)

Reading Link Challenge Mission

To encourage reading as a fun and recreational activity that allows Grade 4 and 5 students of all reading abilities to engage in the sport of reading.

Goals

1. To ensure the participation of children with lower reading scores throughout the region.
2. To foster teamwork and cooperative thinking.
3. To build strong relationships between public libraries and local schools.
4. To share quality children’s literature with participants that represents.

History

In the later 1930s, the Battle of the Books was a weekly radio show that used a quiz bowl format to test children’s knowledge of good literature. Questions about characters, plots and settings were answered by teams representing different elementary schools.

The Battle of the Books program moved to a library setting in 1993 at Kalamazoo Public Library (Michigan). It was used to encourage Grade 4 and 5 students to have fun with reading. In 1996, a similar project was undertaken at Seattle Public Library. In 2002, Port Coquitlam and Coquitlam Public Libraries joined the challenge, and in 2004 the entire Fraser Valley Regional Library came on board. In 2009, 298 teams from 81 schools in the Fraser Valley participated.

The winner of the Fraser Valley Grand Challenge will compete in the Global Reading Challenge, a video conference with other libraries throughout British Columbia and the U.S.

Reading Link Challenge titles for 2010 are as follows:

	Skateway to Freedom by Ann Alma
	Klutzhood by Chris McMahen
	Archer's Quest by Linda Sue Park
	Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo
	Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear by Lensey Namioka
	Year of the Rat by Grace Lin

FVRL Reading Link Timelines

•  September 2009 - Reading Link information package delivered to schools
•  October 2009 - Participating schools confirmed and books are ordered
•  November 2009 - Announcement of titles and distribution of the Challenge books
•  December 2009 - Check on progress and begin scheduling School Challenges
•  January 2010 - Team members finalized
•  February/March 2010 - School and Library challenges held
•  March 2010 - Grand Challenge between Winners of Library Challenge
•  April 2010 - Global Reading Challenge with the winners from Seattle, Tri-Cities,and Fraser Valley (via video-conference)

For more information, please contact Ada Con.