{"id":13343,"date":"2025-09-10T06:14:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T06:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/13343\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T06:14:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T06:14:06","slug":"tauranga-to-host-first-book-battle-nz-inspiring-young-readers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/13343\/","title":{"rendered":"Tauranga to host first Book Battle NZ, inspiring young readers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">For the competition, children  pick five or six books to read and study, then team up to complete a quiz-style challenge on the day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">Convinced that \u201cpaper books aren\u2019t going anywhere\u201d, Burton said there were titles to suit even the most reluctant readers. <\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">The quiz would have multiple-choice answers to make it less threatening.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cIt\u2019s competitive, but everyone\u2019s out there to have a good time as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">Year 5-6 students participate in seven rounds of questions, while Years 7-8 compete in 10. Each round focuses on a specific book. <\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\" Todd Burton, president of the New Zealand Literary Association, has arranged Tauranga's first Book Battle NZ. Photo \/ Bijou Johnson\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/> Todd Burton, president of the New Zealand Literary Association, has arranged Tauranga&#8217;s first Book Battle NZ. Photo \/ Bijou Johnson<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWe want to create lifelong readers,\u201d Burton said. \u201cIf children are engaged in reading and they love books, then teaching them the reading process becomes easier.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">Bayleys Tauranga is sponsoring the event  and Scholastic  provides the books. <\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">Bayleys Tauranga agent Sarah Campbell said <\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">the Book Battle harnesses kids\u2019 competitiveness to get them reading, she said. <\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\" Sarah Campbell, real estate agent with Bayleys Tauranga, is sponsoring the Tauranga Book Battle. Photo \/ Bijou Johnson\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/> Sarah Campbell, real estate agent with Bayleys Tauranga, is sponsoring the Tauranga Book Battle. Photo \/ Bijou Johnson<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cIt\u2019s an academic sport.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">With 15 schools involved this year, Campbell hoped to get 30-40 on board in 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">Campbell and her team will provide winners\u2019 cups and prizes, ensuring the children feel rewarded for their effort, teamwork and enthusiasm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">She said it was about inspiring young people to connect with literacy in a fun and memorable way.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">Book Battle NZ originated in 2015 as an inter-school reading competition in Auckland, guided by librarians Vicki Munro and Nova Gibson. <\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">Waikato joined in 2023 and Manawat\u016b in 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">Each event attracted about 200 students. <\/p>\n<p class=\"VYEVUgvTMz\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThis is not our day job,\u201d Munro said. \u201cWe do this for the love of reading and the joy of seeing kids getting excited by reading.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the competition, children pick five or six books to read and study, then team up to complete&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[5837,2108,489,156,1888,12022,15674,111,139,69,6289,1227,61,4741],"class_list":{"0":"post-13343","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-battle","9":"tag-book","10":"tag-books","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-first","13":"tag-host","14":"tag-inspiring","15":"tag-new-zealand","16":"tag-newzealand","17":"tag-nz","18":"tag-readers","19":"tag-tauranga","20":"tag-to","21":"tag-young"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}