KEAAU — When Leya Varricatt goes to the Hilo Public Library each week, she sometimes leaves with an entire bag of books.
So, when Varricatt was tasked to read through dozens of children’s novels to prepare for Friday morning’s 2018 Big Island Newbery Quiz Bowl, she wasn’t fazed.
“I’m a bookworm,” said Varricatt, an E.B. de Silva Elementary School fifth-grader. “I just love to read. If I had a chance, I would read the whole entire day.”
Leya, 10, was one of more than 100 Hawaii Island fourth- through seventh-graders who competed in the 29th annual Newbery Quiz Bowl, a game show-style reading competition that took place at the Kamehameha Schools Hawaii campus.
There were 23 teams comprised of students from public and private schools and libraries throughout the island.
Many began preparing in the fall. They read and quizzed each other on content from 40 selected children’s books that have won the Newbery Medal.
The Newbery Medal has been awarded by the American Library Association to one book each year since 1922. Winning books are considered “the most distinguished American children’s book” published the previous year.
Many Newbery winners have been made into movies, such as “The Giver” by Lois Lowry, “Holes” by Louis Sachar and “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle.
Newbery books give students “exposure to quality, award-winning literature,” said Quiz Bowl co-chairwoman Paula Kamiya. “They are written for their age group and a lot of them have ties to other subjects (such as) science and especially history.”
The competition “is a way of bringing readers together all over the islands to realize (reading) is something that people do and that it’s important,” Kamiya added. “Because every time (students) read a book they learn a vocabulary word — they learn more. And it’s important for them to have a good foundation in literacy.”
The competition was started by Julia Tao, former librarian of Kalanianaole Elementary and Intermediate School. Kamiya has led it in recent years and it has continued to grow — she said this year’s competition was the largest yet.
“The books aren’t always the ones they would voluntarily read on their own, but once they get into them they really are surprised at how good they are,” Kamiya said.
Varricatt said her favorite Newbery book was “Island of the Blue Dolphins” by Scott O’Dell. She said it was her favorite because it’s “adventure (genre) and instead of a boy being the hero it’s actually a girl who is trying to survive.”
Nanea Henriques, a fifth-grader at Konawaena Elementary School, said her favorite was “The Slave Dancer” by Paula Fox. Nanea said her team prepared for the Quiz Bowl by meeting twice each week after school to read and answer practice questions.
Her favorite part was “knowing the answer (to questions about the books),” Nanea said. “Because you get really excited.”
2018 Big Island Newbery Quiz Bowl winners:
First place: E.B. de Silva Elementary School (Ethan Kim, Louis Perroy, Mia Pohlen, Clara Steele, Leya Varricatt and observer Eli Yamaki).
Second place: Hilo Public Library (Taarini Godboyle, Ben Wyatt, Cyrus Bower, Myumi Lee and Isabel Taylor).
Third place: Kailua-Kona Public Library (Noah Nikolai, Estelle “Bella” Dadzie, Sara Gillespie, Anela Monell and observers Dimitri Nikolai, Heidi Nikolai and Naomi Nikolai).
Fourth place: Konawaena Elementary School (Nanea Henriques, Teddy Alejandro, Isabella Bowen, Joseph Nakamoto, Riley Asakura and observers Malia Bacxa, Maming Bacxa, Shaley Montano, Alyssa Tagawa, Penny Burgess, Anika Beth Santos and Francis Dauchy).
Fifth place: Konawaena Middle School: (Uhiwai Wall, Malia Casabar, Baya Bloss, Lehua Norris, Sophia Burgess and observers Sonny Fitzgerald and Mei Kanada).