Surrey Libraries was thrilled to host the Reading Link Challenge Grand Challenge on Wednesday, May 10 at Shannon Hall. The Human Books team from George Greenaway Elementary in Cloverdale won the competition and were named the 2023 Reading Link Challenge champions at the event.
The Reading Link Challenge is a program delivered in partnership between Surrey Libraries, Coquitlam Public Library, Fraser Velley Regional Library, New Westminster Public Library, North Vancouver City Library, and schools in the communities served by those library systems.
The Reading Link Challenge makes reading fun for children in Grades 4 and 5. Participating children read six pre-selected books and answered trivia questions about those books in teams of 6 during successively difficult trivia challenges.
Teams first had to compete against other teams at their school. The competition then moved onto winning school teams challenging each other at their local library and in larger communities, at the community challenge competitions. The Grand Challenge was the final stage of this journey, bringing together 2 teams from each library system to compete for the title of Reading Link Challenge 2023 champions.
Two teams from schools in New Westminster clinched the second and third spots in the competition. Team Turtle from Skwo:wech Elementary placed second and the Hurricanes from Herbert Spencer Elementary placed third.
This was the first in-person Reading Link Challenge Grand Challenge since 2019. Surrey last hosted the competition in 2017.