Western Wayne Middle School beat 15 area school districts at a reading competition on Monday, taking home first place. North Pocono placed second and third in the high school division.
Held this year at Western Wayne High School, the fourth annual NEIU reading competition pitted the literary knowledge of about 800 middle school and high school students, representing nearly 60 teams.
“It was the district’s goal ... to showcase our students, personnel and facilities to the other districts, especially to the parents who do not have children participating in sporting events,” said district superintendent Andrew Falonk.
School teams, comprised of 8 to 15 students, had to find a way to read 46 books among them, then get ready to answer a bevy of plot and character questions at the competition.
“It was a phenomenal event to have that many kids here excited about reading,” said Diane Scarfalloto, Western Wayne High School principal.
“They only had a couple of months to read,” said Laurie Tylutki, a district English teacher who coached one high school team. “In addition to their regular school work.”
The official book competition list was unveiled around Thanksgiving.
And it was not easy reading: Sense and Sensibility, a classic by English novelist Jane Austen, Animal Farm by satirist George Orwell; and contemporary novels by Dean Koontz, Ishmael Beah, and Douglas Adams.
On Monday, teams faced off behind closed-door classrooms, having to confer among each other to answer 40 questions, within 20 seconds per question. If a team failed to answer in time, the opposing team got a chance to steal points. Referees tallied points at the end of three rounds, with the winners placing first, second, and third.
The Western Wayne Middle School team coached by Jennifer Dunda placed first.
Lakeland School District took home first place in the high school division, grades 9-12.

Western Wayne Middle School first place team, as follows:

7th grade:
Isabella Esposito
Caleigh Wildenstein
Sam Hoch
P.J. Zaccagnino
Jacob Gillis
Michaela Killian

8th grade:
Kaelyn Jacques
Nicole Buehring
Hannah Piefer
Erin Ogozaly
Allison Hess
Jamie Thorpe
Brittney Greaney