2019 - 2020
View the best trailers and covers from the different schools competing in The Readers Cup. You can view and vote on this link. Read the instructions carefully.
Shortlisting for the Red Dot Book Award
Ever wondered how the International School Library Association shortlists for the Red Dot Book Award. Click here for an interesting blog post by our Junior School Librarian, Sarah Mounsey.
Readers Cup Competitions
As announced last week the International School Readers Cup has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 restrictions so we are looking at ways to accommodate the students who have expressed interest in this event.
Students who are in the process of reading all the books in either the Older or Mature Readers category should ensure they have registered their interest to be involved in this.
However, everyone is encouraged to get involved with the competitions below.
Red Dot Book Award & The Readers Cup
We received the following message today. Although we have been expecting it, it was still disappointing to have it confirmed.
Hello Fellow Reader Leaders,
It is with heavy hearts that we have to announce that, due to COVID-19 protocols, we are going to cancel this year's Readers Cup competition at Singapore American School.
Book Trailers and Better Book Covers:
Kate Brundage, teacher librarian at the Singapore American School, has kindly offered to collect trailers and covers as per the original deadline (April 3rd) and guidelines. Kate will create a google form for voting which will close on Wednesday, April 24th. We will announce the winners and next year's Red Dot book on Thursday, April 25th.
Practice questions (15 per book) for this year's Younger, Older, and Mature books are available on the Red Dot website now: https://www.reddotawards.com/2019-2020-practice-questions/ Click on any of the titles and it will take you to a Kahoot with 15 questions.
The Readers Cup competition across the International Schools will be held this year at The Singapore American School on 28 April.
Trials for Older Readers Team will be held in the Junior School Library on 10 March. Please let Ms Hayes know if you are interested in being involved with this.
Students who are keen to be part of the Mature Readers team should also talk to Ms Hayes about preparation for this.
Older Readers Readers Cup Team - For Years 7 & 8
Students who wish to take part in this must read all of the books in their age category by the 24th February. Mrs Mounsey will then hold a Kahoot competition to choose the teams to represent the school.
Mature Readers Readers Cup Team - Year 9 & above
Students who want to be part of the Mature Readers Teams should see Ms Hayes for details of preparation for the competition.
How to get copies of these books
We have multiple copies of these books in the library so you can borrow or reserve them. Sometimes the wait time can get long. You may want to consider borrowing the books from one of the National Libraries (NLB) in Singapore.
Red Dot Book Award in a nutshell:
The Red Dot student's choice book awards are an initiative of the International School Libraries (ISLN) in Singapore. The annual event started in 2009.
All school libraries in Singapore (and the region) are welcome to participate.
Books - in four age-based categories, with eight titles in each - are announced in June.
Voting takes place between March and May. There is an overall winner for Singapore as well as individual winners within each school.
A Readers Cup competition based on a subset of these is usually held in April.
The Red Dot categories are roughly based on readers, rather than book formats or school divisions. (NB: It is up to every librarian to determine which books are right for which classes in your school to read.)
- Early Years (ages 3-7) -- formerly Picture Books
- Younger Readers (ages 7-10) -- formerly Junior) -- (where Captain Underpants and Geronimo Stilton are the assumed reading level)
- Older Readers (ages 10-14) -- formerly Middle) -- (where Inkheart and The Lightning Thief are the assumed reading level)
- Mature Readers (ages 14-adult) -- (formerly Senior) -- (where Twilight and The Book Thief are the assumed reading level)
Shortlist titles are chosen by a committee of teacher-librarians from recent children's literature (first published in English within the past four years), with the goal of offering a range of books from around the world.
Criteria in choosing books:
- of genres, e.g., fiction, nonfiction, poetry, graphic format
- Balance of boy/girl main characters
- Balance of nationalities
- Published (in English) within the last 4 years (i.e., for the year 2015-2016, books published in 2012, 2013, 2014, or 2015)
- The will consist of 8 books at each level
- Preferably only #1 if in a series
- Preferably no repeat of an author from previous years
- Preferably books that encourage Text-Text, Text-Self, and/or Text-World connections for students (i.e., books worth talking about)
Ten years ago ISLN started the Red Dot book awards — shortlists of recently published books from around the world worth promoting in their schools — which means books worth buying multiple copies of and worth readers discussing. It was modeled on similar awards run by similar teacher-librarian networks in other countries (e.g., the Panda Awards in China and theSakura Medal in Japan).
https://sites.google.com/view/riyl-libraries/book-activities/booktrailers