On Wednesday, April 2, after 60 tense minutes of competition in front of a cheering crowd in the Central Library auditorium, The Library Lynx team from Queen Anne Elementary won the title of 2025 Global Reading Challenge city champion.
Wearing orange headbands and purple T-shirts, the seven fourth and fifth graders competed against 10 other teams by answering rounds of reading trivia questions about this year’s Global Reading Challenge books.
During the competition, each team had their own way of huddling to ensure other teams didn’t hear them. Many teams brought mascots, such as Dunlap Elementary’s the Willy Wonkas.
Cedar Park Elementary’s Sigma Peppa Pigs wore matching pig ears – maybe it helped them hear each others’ whispers better?
After each team huddled to decide on an answer to the question, they submitted it to the table of scorekeepers, a nervous moment for all.
The Library Lynx had a very distinctive huddle — every time a question was called out, they wrapped arms around each other and drew their heads in very close.
The initial competition led to a four-way tie between the Library Lynx, Genesee Hill Elementary’s Book Bandits, Kimball Elementary’s The Purple Banana Slugs and Orca Elementary’s The Intelligent Foxes.
After the Library Lynx won the tiebreaker round, their cheering squad went wild.
Of course, all the students who participate in the Global Reading Challenge are winners.
A collaboration between The Seattle Public Library and Seattle Public Schools, the Global Reading Challenge promotes recreational reading at a pivotal elementary school stage when many students — especially boys — start to lose interest in reading. This school year, more than 3,500 fourth and fifth graders in 72 SPS elementary schools participated in the program this year, forming more than 500 teams.
All children who participate have access to the titles, which are chosen because they are rich, low-barrier books that reflect diverse cultural communities and have strong appeal to all kids. This year’s selection includes three graphic novels.
“At a time when literacy rates are declining, the Global Reading Challenge is more important than ever,” said Brian Lawrence, executive director of The Seattle Public Library Foundation, which has supported the program since its start.
Recent studies show that fewer students read for fun compared to previous years, and that 36% of Washington state students in grades kindergarten through 4 read below grade level.
Students involved in the program sharpen reading skills, while also learning about conflict resolution, group dynamics, and resiliency in the face of disappointment.
The All City Final has extra significance for children’s librarian Maria Leon-Roman, who served as a scorekeeper for the 2025 Final. In 2008, Maria was a fifth grader at Concord International Elementary, and a member of the Concord Cougars, a Global Reading Challenge team that made to the All City Final, placing second.
“None of us had gone downtown before so that was really exciting,” she remembered.
Maria still remembers some of the books that she read for the challenge that year, including “Half and Half” and “A Single Shard.” She also participated in 2007, when one of the books was “Becoming Naomi León.” “I had never seen my same last name on a book so that was cool,” she says.
Regular practice sessions held at the South Park Branch made a difference, she said. “We learned so many things — how to work on a team, the idea that ‘we win together, we lose together.’”
Now, Maria works with schools in the Lake City area during the Global Reading Challenge program to help students engage with the books and authors.
At this year’s All City Final, one of the parents of a Library Lynx team member praised the range of skills that the program fosters, including leadership and teamwork. “I love that kids are getting the team experience of sports, but for education,” she said.
Global Reading Challenge finalist teams
- Broadview-Thomson K-8’s Depressing Unicorns
- Cascadia Elementary’s mAGnificent Muffins
- Cedar Park Elementary’s Sigma Peppa Pigs
- Dunlap Elementary’s Willy Wonka
- Genesee Hill Elementary’s Book Bandits
- Kimball Elementary’s The Purple Banana Slugs
- John Muir Elementary’s Legends of Books
- Lafayette Elementary’s Confidential
- Orca Elementary’s The Intelligent Foxes
- Queen Anne Elementary’s Library Lynx
- Rising Star Elementary’s Silver Hawks
The Global Reading Challenge is supported by The Seattle Public Library Foundation, the Loeb Family Charitable Foundations, the Northwest Literacy Foundation and Pemco Insurance.
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