Beverly Park Elementary readers, the “ICWs” (I ‘C’ Winners), represented the Central Region in King County’s Global Reading Challenge held on March 27 in Issaquah. Two teams of seven dedicated readers gave up numerous lunches and recesses this year to study, read, and discuss ten children’s books, both fiction and nonfiction. The two teams competed against each other to become a school lead team. This team of seven competed against a strong team from Parkside Elementary, winning by one question in the tie-ending, “sudden death” round.

A second challenge was won by the ICWs as they competed against a team from Tukwila on March 11. Moving on to the Grand Challenge, the ICWs took fourth place competing against schools from Mercer Island, Shoreline, and Auburn. Attending the challenge was a special guest, Anjali Banerjee, author of the book, Looking for Bapu, one of the ten books students read for the challenge. Each participant in the challenge received a signed copy of the book as a gift from Ms. Banerjee. Answering very challenging questions, our Beverly Park students represented Highline Public Schools in way that can make us all proud! As King County librarians say, “You always win when you read a book.” We definitely saw a team of winners today! Looking for a good read? Here are the other books featured in the challenge:

Project Mulberry by Linda Sue Park
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis
Room One by Andrew Clark
Holes by Louis Sachar
Silk Umbrellas by Carolyn Marsden
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Rules by Cynthia Lord