Literacy is alive and well at Waimea College where a team of six avid readers have just beaten 55 other teams around the country in the Battle of the Bibliophiles.
The Year 10 national reading competition sets teams a task of 12 books to read between them over two terms, with each member of the Waimea team devouring six books.
The team of Emma Taaffe, 14, Pippa Brookes, 15, Bonnie Hughes, 15, Mackenzie Adlam, 15, Ruby Gibbs, 15, and Hamish Cobb, 15, then tackled an online quiz about the books to test literacy and comprehension, plus an Encyclopaedia Britannica quiz to test research skills.
Four of them were in the winning team last year that scooped the Readers’ Cup, which is the Year 9 equivalent to Battle of the Bibliophiles and it helps that they are good friends who can work as a team under pressure.
In a country of declining literacy, the team of bibliophiles love reading and have loved books for as long as they can remember, beginning with their parents reading to them during their early years.
Plus, most of them did not have a phone when they were at primary school and delved into books instead.
“I was inspired from a young age; my parents encouraged me,” Pippa says.
Favourite books among the 12 they analysed for the competition were Nothing More to Tell by Karen M. McManus, Patu by Gavin Bishop and Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson.
“One of the good things about this competition is it forces you to read books you wouldn’t otherwise read,” Bonnie says. “Like ‘In the Sea there are Crocodiles’, which is about an Afghan boy who went from country to country looking for somewhere safe to live.”
Behind the scenes, librarians Sarah Maxwell and Delyth Jones organised the competition at school level, including the books they had to read, while teacher in charge, Naomi Chapman, says the team’s good literacy skills is a reflection of their love of reading.
“It starts with parents reading picture books,” she says.
In general, she says fewer students read books nowadays and that is due to computer games, more sport, graphic novels and generally living busier lives than in the past. The goal in the library is to entice more students into reading by having ‘gateway’ books. Getting students hooked on reading will then improve literacy skills.
Reading is not just for literacy, she points out, but also a time for the brain to relax, away from technology and day-to-day issues.
