A team of avid readers from Albion Elementary School are champions in a Lower Mainland library contest that tests their memory skills.

9-year-old Aria Holland, 9-year-old Michaela Hendrickson, 10-year-old Reid Wishlow, 11-year-old Aarnav Arora and 9-year-old Aubrey Silva made up the L’ttle Einsteins team that took on the latest Reading Link Challenge Grand Challenge organized by regional libraries across the Lower Farm.

Students had to read six books for the competition including: uncle and me book by Uma Krishnaswami, The case of the missing aunt by Michael Hutchinson, Idea by Kenneth Oppel The Magical Misfits by Neil Patrick Harris, The Unteachables by Gordon Korman, and A wolf called Wander by Rosanne Parry.

Then they had to memorize the details of each book for a quiz-style contest. Each team member chose a title to become an expert.

First there was a school challenge where teams from the same school competed against each other. Next was a library challenge where school teams from across the district competed at a Fraser Valley Regional Library location.

After winning the district competition, Albion students then competed against 19 teams from across the Fraser Valley Regional Library region on April 27 in the community challenge, where they took second place. However, they were still allowed to compete in the final Grand Challenge against winning teams not only from the Fraser Valley Regional Library area, but also from the Coquitlam, North Vancouver, New Westminster and Surrey library systems.

That challenge took place on Wednesday, May 4, and The Little Einsteins won first place after a tiebreaker, said teacher librarian Jennifer Hughes, who had been working with the school’s teams since late December.

All of this year’s challenges were completed online.

Participants read their first book just before the Christmas holidays, said Hughes, who then formed three teams of five in late January, who had to come up with team names and posters for their team.

“What I do is after they’ve read a few books, I give them projects and homework to make it really fun for the kids,” Hughes said.

Students will create things like posters and game boards to help them get to know the books better.

“We’ve had tons of weird and fun awesome projects over the years,” Hughes said.

But they also do little comprehension worksheets for Hughes, which she says might not be as fun, but tests their knowledge of the books.

This team, noted Hughes, loves trivia.

The hardest thing about this contest is knowing the fine details of each book, Hughes said.

And the details that these students manage to remember simply amaze him.

“It’s pretty amazing,” she said. “They go beyond the basic plot event to the tiniest details.”

“They love this part of group work to see what they can learn and what they can accomplish as a group. It’s really neat,” she explained.

The challenge is only open to 4th/5th graders.

Hughes was impressed with the quality of the books chosen this year.

Books are chosen by a panel of Fraser Valley Regional Library staff and partner libraries, who try to select books that will appeal to a wide audience. According to the library’s website, the panel tries to include books with multicultural content that celebrate diversity, that have received positive reviews in library journals, that appeal to boys and girls, whose reading level varies, which are available in paperback, written by BC and Canadian authors.

Albion Elementary had a team that won the Grand Challenge – The Bouncy Bookworms in 2015.

Hughes just wants his students to discover a passion for reading. Her own daughters entered the pageant when they attended Albion.

“They are now 20 and 18 and know how exciting being part of Reading Link is,” said Hughes.

“This is one of their favorite memories of Albion and I hope these five dedicated and enthusiastic readers feel the same when they look back on their first Reading Link experience. They have put in an incredible amount of hard work and dedication and were an absolute pleasure to teach and coach.

The Reading Link Challenge takes place every year.

For more information on how to enter, visit fvrl.bc.ca/reading_link_challenge.php.