An overflow crowd of nearly 500 people packed the Central Library’s Microsoft Auditorium on March 21 for the finals of the Global Reading Challenge, cheering on teams of local 4th and 5th graders as they competed to answer tough trivia questions about the same eight books.
The event capped off the 28th annual Global Reading Challenge, a citywide reading incentive program run jointly by The Seattle Public Library and Seattle Public Schools and made possible through funding by The Seattle Public Library Foundation, the Northwest Literacy Foundation and the Ballard Rotary.
Since this year’s Global Reading Challenge books were announced last November, thousands of Seattle Public Schools 4th and 5th graders from elementary schools across the city have been reading them as teams, developing their comprehension and retention skills together while building confidence and having fun. The Seattle Public Library supplies the books, providing over 8,000 copies – accessible in a variety of formats and languages – to Seattle’s public elementary schools.
The Global Reading Challenge aims to promote the love of reading and to strengthen reading skills by introducing students to a variety of literature as part of a fun group activity. The eight books selected this year represented a wide range of experiences and backgrounds from authors with cultural connections to the stories they tell. They were chosen to reflect different reading levels and appeal to different interests. The goal is not for every student to read every book, although some students do. The goal is for everyone to read at least one or two books deeply.
The students in the final had another goal as well – they wanted to win. For months, they’d been preparing to compete against other teams by answering challenging trivia questions about the books they’d been reading. They’d won their local school competitions and made it through tough semifinal rounds held at the Central Library earlier this month. Now nine very strong teams remained in the running, and competition was fierce.
Over the course of three tense rounds, judges asked the teams a few questions about each book, 24 questions in total. Their performance was extraordinary. No team missed more than four questions and most teams missed only one. Two teams, however, answered all 24 questions correctly: Cascadia Elementary’s The Knowledgeable Narwhals and Thornton Creek Elementary’s Dewey Decimal Dragonflies.
Tied for first place with perfect scores, these two teams faced off in a long, nail-biter of a tie-breaker. In the end, the Dewey Decimal Dragonflies won the day, edging out the Knowledgeable Narwhals on the 10th question.
As exciting as the finals were, the Global Reading Challenge is so much more than a competition. “Our students get very excited each year to be involved in the Global Reading Challenge,” said Kristen Eason, Thornton Creek school librarian and coach of the Dewey Decimal Dragonflies. “This program brings in students of a variety of reading levels and gives them a real goal to work towards. It’s unique in the way that students push and encourage each other to read and study their books.”
“Equally important as reading are the teamwork skills students gain,” noted Lisa Calvert, Thornton Creek 5th grade teacher. “They learn to take responsibility for their own parts while giving over control to other team members, trust each other, listen and share, and celebrate and support one another.”
Gerrit Kischner, principal of Thornton Creek, agreed. “What we are proudest of is the teamwork the whole school showed all the way through this tournament. The Dewey Decimal Dragonflies took that spirit all the way through the finals.”
Global Reading Challenge Finalist Teams
Cascadia’s The Knowledgeable Narwhals
Greenwood’s Reading Robins
John Rogers’ Stars 2.0
Leschi’s The Cliffhangers
Madrona’s Spaghetti Cats
Northgate’s Legend of Spirits
Orca’s Death Frogs
Stevens’ The Canadian Heatwave
Thornton Creek’s Dewey Decimal Dragonflies
Global Reading Challenge Semi-Finalist Teams
Adams’ Cheesy Rainbow Unicorns
Alki’s Read-venge
Arbor Heights’ The Flying Pickles
Bailey Gatzert’s Super Books
Beacon Hill’s The No-Names
BF Day’s Blazing Books
Broadview-Thomson’s The Good Readers
Bryant’s Rapid Readers
Cascade Parent Partnerships’ The Cheetah Readers
Cascadia’s The Knowledgeable Narwhals
Catharine Blaine’s Book Busters
Cedar Park’s The Book Worms
Concord’s Froggies
Daniel Bagley’s Space Frogs
Dearborn Park’s Reading Humans
Decatur’s Rampaging Rhinos.
Dunlap’s 7 Big Brains
Emerson’s The Dreamers
Fairmount Park’s The Sea Chickens
Gatewood’s Books Fly Like Fat Flabbergasted Flying Yoghurts
Genesee Hill’s Peregrine Falcons
Graham Hill’s Lightning Bolts
Green Lake’s The Amazing Alchemists
Hawthorne’s Team 7
Hazel Wolf’s Secret Life of Pigeons
Highland Park’s The Book Worms
John Hay’s Teeny Tiny Timothys
John Muir’s The Hybrids
John Stanford’s Dream Team
Lafayette’s Soggy Froggy Readers
Lawton’s Snow Leopards
Licton Springs’ Global Turtles
Louisa Boren STEM’s UMMMs
Lowell’s June Dragons
Loyal Heights’ The Legendary Readers
Magnolia’s Star Readers
Maple’s Mr. Cheese
McDonald’s Team Sushi
McGilvra’s Big Bad Bobas
MLK, Jr.’s The Ragons
Montlake’s Purple Platypuses
North Beach’s Dapper Toothpick Llamas
Olympic Hills’ The Reading Champions
Pathfinder’s Savage Broccoli
Queen Anne’s The Reading Readers
Rainier View’s The IDKs
Rising Star’s Sugar Cube Coffees
Roxhill’s The Star Catchers
Sacajawea’s Screeching Pizzas of Insanity
Salmon Bay’s The Bookity Bookits
Sand Point’s The COWS
Sanislo’s The Team Formerly Known as A
South Shore’s The BOOOk Lovers
Thurgood Marshall’s The Royal Blues
TOPS’ The Holey Ones
View Ridge’s Sussy, Sassy Readers
Viewlands’ MARICKY
Wedgewood’s Book Panthers
West Seattle’s Rad Readers
West Woodland’s The Mini Wittmans
Whittier’s Spectacles
Wing Luke’s Boba Dragons
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