More than 100 Grade 4 and 5 students from local schools took part in Fraser Valley Regional Library’s 2024 Delta Reading Link Challenge at Annieville Elementary last week.
Twenty-one six-person teams — 12 from schools in North Delta, five from Tsawwassen and four from Ladner — assembled in the North Delta school’s gym on Wednesday (April 10) to answer trivia questions about this year’s six Reading Link Challenge titles: Astrid the Unstoppable by Maria Parr, Because of the Rabbit by Cynthia Lord, J.D. and the Great Barber Battle by J. Dillard, Linked by Gordon Korman, Peter Lee’s Notes from the Field by Angela Ahn, and Upside Down Magic by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle and Emily Jenkins.
Cheering them on from the sidelines were dozens of parents, teachers and student supporters, along with Delta school board chair Val Windsor, Delta School District director of communications Cathryn Tucker, Delta Friends of the Library president Evelyn Funk and treasurer John Woolliams, and Delta Libraries manager Courtney Robinson.
After three rounds of questions, there was a tie, but several rounds sudden-death questions later, a winning team emerged: Southpointe Academy’s The Big Brains, made up of team members Anson, Cissy, Jasper, Maddie, Mia and Oliver, supported by teacher/primary years program literacy co-ordinator Heather Goode.
They will now go on to represent Delta at FVRL’s Community Challenge April 17 at KPU’s Langley campus, where they will compete against teams across the Fraser Valley.
The winner of that event will go on to represent FVRL at the regional Grand Challenge, competing against teams from other public libraries for a chance to win the Reading Link Challenge Trophy. The Grand Challenge will be held at the Presentation House Theatre in North Vancouver on May 1.
The FVRL Reading Link Challenge is a yearly event that encourages reading as a fun and recreational activity for Grade 4 and 5 students of all reading abilities to engage in the sport of reading.
Interested students form teams of six players must collectively know the contents of six books chosen by the region’s librarians and volunteers from the University of the Fraser Valley’s library technician program. Kids get the books (provided by FVRL) in November and have until February to read them and memorize the stories’ details.
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