Auburn School District No. 408
915 4th Street Northeast, Auburn, WA  98002

 04/05/02

NEWS RELEASE
Second "Global Reading Challenge" Held
Thursday, April 4

Fourth and fifth grade students from Evergreen, Lea Hill, Hazelwood, Pioneer, Lake View, and Washington Elementary Schools competed with each other in a "Global Reading Challenge" on Thursday, April 4, in the Auburn Public Library.  For this reading challenge, the competing students prepared by reading several of the same fiction books.  As school teams, the students answered literary questions regarding these books with the goal of correctly answering the most questions.  The winner of this round, the Washington Wizards, will go onto compete in Issaquah on Friday, May 17 with the winners from Black Diamond and Issaquah School Districts. Pioneer Elementary School won the Challenge in 2001.

Librarians from the Auburn and Algona Pacific libraries were the hosts for this program.  King County Library System was the sponsor for the second "Global Reading Challenge" program.

This reading challenge event encourages reading in the elementary grades.  In the late 1930’s, its predecessor, 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 several elementary schools.  For more information, contact Pioneer Elementary School principal, Liz Knox, at (253) 931-4986 or the Auburn Public Library.