Readers Cup Winners 2014!

The annual Readers Cup competition was well-attended and enjoyed by everyone on Thursday, May 22, at the Canadian International School - Lakeside.

This year we experimented with running the three competitions simultaneously, in order to keep the time frame between 4 and 6 pm -- and it worked very well, with everyone together in the auditorium for the opening remarks, and then at the end for the announcement of the winners in each category.

And the winners were:

Younger Readers category:

1st place:  Singapore American School (SAS)
2nd place:  Stamford American International School (SAIS)
3rd place:  Canadian International School -- Tanjong Katong (CIS-TK)

Older Readers category:

1st place:  Singapore American School (SAS)
2nd place:  Stamford American International School (SAIS)
3rd place:  United World College of Southeast Asia (UWCSEA) - East

Mature Readers category:

1st place:  United World College of Southeast Asia (UWCSEA) - Dover
2nd place:  St. Joseph's Institution - International (SJII)
3rd place:  Australian International School (AIS)

Congratulations to the winners -- and to all the participants!

Each winning team member in each category received a personal book coupon for $20 and the winning schools in each category received a book coupon worth $1,000 -- all from the sponsor of this event, Bookaburra Books, represented by the owner, Cheryle Hum.

In case you're interested, here are the questions and answers used in the three categories -- as well as the Multiple Choice quizzes for each.

• Younger Readers:  
• Multiple Choice:  Questions -- and -- Questions & Answers
• Slideshow, including Questions and Questions & Answers
• Older Readers:  
• Multiple Choice:  Questions -- and -- Questions & Answers
• Slideshow, including Questions and Questions & Answers
• Mature Readers:  
• Multiple Choice:  Questions -- and -- Questions & Answers
• Slideshow, including Questions and Questions & Answers

Many thanks to Lisa Patton, Head of Libraries at Canadian International School - Lakeside, and her colleagues for all their work in hosting the event -- and to all the people who volunteered to be judges.  Thanks also to the support of our ISLN network members who participated and ran teams this year.

Register your Readers Cup teams by Fri, May 16

The annual Readers Cup competition will be held Thursday, May 22, at the Canadian International School, Lakeside.

Register your teams by Friday, May 16th.

More detailed information about the day will then be emailed to you.

Add to the Long Lists for Red Dots 2014-2015 via Goodreads

It's time to start thinking of the next round of Red Dots.

As you think of good potential titles, please put them on these GoodReads Listopia lists.  The lists are handy as sources of summer reading suggestions for your students.

These GoodReads Listopia lists are open to anyone in the world (with a GoodReads account) to contribute to - and/or vote on.

• Red Dot 2014-2015: Early Years: Suggested LONG LIST
• Red Dot 2014-2015: Younger Readers: Suggested LONG LIST
• Red Dot 2014-2015: Older Readers: Suggested LONG LIST
• Red Dot 2014-2015: Mature Readers: Suggested LONG LIST

Criteria in choosing books for the longlist:

• Published (in English) within the last 4 years -- so 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014
• The shortlists will consist of 8 books at each level
• Preferably only #1 if in a series
• Preferably no repeat of an author from previous years
• Think of accessibility -- easy to purchase from major vendor? is it available in paperback?

 

Overall considerations when generating the shortlist:

• Mix of genres, e.g., fiction, nonfiction, poetry, graphic format
• Balance of male/female main characters
• Balance of cultures or countries of origin
• Preferably including a book from Singapore or the region

 HUGE WARNING: Because the lists are open to the world, some really weird things can be put on it -- and, even though our ISLN Goodreads account created the lists, we can't delete things off it (at least I can't figure out how to do that). Right now a guy called Jonathan:

has added several titles, which are not appropriate.  One is a nonfiction book about health care for adults.  E.g.,

Please ignore them.  The Red Dot committee surely will.  And if anyone has a better idea of how to suggest titles, let me know.  We could just go with the Goodreads group shelf, but it's a bit more of a hassle to put books on a shelf.

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The four SHORT LISTS will be announced by the Red Dot ISLN committee in September.

(Alternatively, click here to join our Red Dot Nominations Group in GoodReads and put books on the Group bookshelves.  Some of us will then put the group suggestions on the next year's LONG LISTS.)

See you all at the Readers Cup competition on May 22nd at CIS Lakeside.

Upcoming AGM and general meeting on Monday, April 28th -- plus a plug for the AFCC in May/June

Don't forget the upcoming ISLN meeting in the secondary school library at UWCSEA East.  That's Tampines (not the Dover campus).  Tampines St. 73 is very short -- you can't miss the building and there's only one entrance.  Yes, there's parking.  We're just off Tampines Avenue 10 -- not far from IKEA.  That's Monday, Apr 28th, 4:00 for 4:00pm start. 

Besides the Annual General Meeting business, we've got Denise Tan from Closetful of Books coming with a display of books, especially regional ones, for us to browse.  She'll undoubtedly have books by many of the authors that you'll get a chance to hear at the AFCC at the end of May (see details further on) -- as Denise is coordinating school visits for the AFCC authors.

There is also going to be a short presentation by Geraldine Reilly, head of sales at Twig, an Australian educational company: 

Tigtag is the one-stop resource with over 600 outstanding films, lesson plans and classroom activities to support your science teaching and inspire students.

If you want to start a free trial of the product before the meeting, contact her via email:  greilly@twig-world.com .

Other information to be imparted includes an update on the Readers Cup competition in May and an outline of the process of determining shortlists for next year's Red Dot Book Awards.

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A reminder about the AFCC (the Asian Festival of Children's Content), May 31-June 3.  Registration is open.  The cost for the Writers & Illustrators Conference, June 1-3, is $350, but we usually get a 10% discount -- which would make it $315.  You can also get a one-day ticket for $200.

See their website: http://afcc.com.sg/  and this PDF brochure: http://afcc.com.sg/images/uploads/2014/AFCC14-teaser-1.pdf .

The country focus this year is India.

The children's literature lecture will be given on the evening of Monday, June 1, by Fatima Sharafeddine.

Our distinguished speaker is Fatima Sharafeddine, an award-winning Lebanese writer twice been nominated for the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. A writer and translator of children’s books, Fatima has published over 100 books including Grandpa's Donkey (Arab Thought Foundation Award, 2012), The Book of Laughter and Crying (Anna Lindh Foundation Regional Award, 2011), and Princesses of the World (IBBY Translator Honor List, 2012). She lives between Belgium and Lebanon, and participates in several international book fairs as well as offers workshops in writing for children. Most of her books are published in Arabic, and several have been translated to various European languages, among which are Dutch, Danish, Spanish, French, German, and English.

See the full list of speakers here: http://afcc.com.sg/2014/speakers

I note under the "Book and Product Launches" that they have collected essays based on last year's AFCC -- with its focus on Malaysia -- into a book called "One Big Story" edited by Dr. Myra Garces-Bacsal:

And the Red Dot winners for 2013-2014 are......

The 2013-2014 Red Dot Book Awards - with over 6,000 votes from 13 schools cast in total over the four categories.  Below are the Singapore-wide winners.
 
Early Years:

• 1st place:  Extra Yarn
• 2nd place:  99 Tadpoles
• 3rd place:  Too Many Elephants

Younger Readers:

• 1st place: Sherlock Sam and the Missing Heirloom in Katong
• 2nd place:  Fortunately the Milk
• 3rd place: Zita the Spacegirl

Older Readers:

• 1st place:  Itch
• 2nd place:  Flora & Ulysses
• 3rd place:  The Boy Who Swam with Piranhas

Mature Readers:

• 1st place:  172 Hours on the Moon
• 2nd place:  The Ocean at the End of the Lane
• 3rd place:  Boxers and Saints

For schools that had students submit votes via the online voting form, I have sent you each an email telling you what the top three books in each category were for your school.  (Those of you who submitted only block votes to me for tallying already know your own winners.)

The Readers Cup competition (based on a subset of the Red Dot shortlists) will be held May 22nd at the Canadian International School, Lakeside Campus.  The competition booklists will be announced within the next few days.