Greetings Vanderlyn rising 4th and 5th graders!

If you enjoy reading and competition, consider joining Vanderlyn's Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl club. The Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl (HRRB) is a fun, quiz-bowl type competition. At the Bowl, students strive to "buzz" in and correctly answer questions about the current year's elementary Georgia Children's Book Award nominees faster than the opposing teams. 

We're looking for readers to join our team. We will meet after school on Mondays from 2:30-3:15 beginning on September 21, 2026. During meetings members will discuss the nominee books and practice answering questions using the buzzers. The county competition will be held on a Saturday in January at a DCSD High School. Team members are expected to attend practices from Sept.-Jan.  

We encourage all students to join the team. However, we are permitted to take only 10 students to the competition. Students will be chosen for the competition based upon behaviors exhibited at the meetings, book knowledge, the number of books read, and meeting attendance. The January competition will consist of 4 rounds. All of the chosen students will compete during the competition, but not all members will compete in the same number of rounds. 

Here is an example of the question format:

In the book, J vs. K, what is the name of the school that both J and K attend? Dean Ashley Public School (DAPS), p. 8. 

Stop by the library or reach out to Mrs. Pansini at the email address listed below to check out a reading bowl book. They are kept behind the circulation desk. You can also check them out from the Sora eBook platform: https://bit.ly/dekalbsora  

Sponsors of the club are Ms. Dempsey, Ms. Pansini and Ms. Wooden. We are trying to encourage students to read a variety of books AND be a competitive team at the same time! 

We hope you tryout for Vanderlyn's

Reading Bowl Team!

**Have questions?

Please email Mrs. Pansini, Vanderlyn librarian: gail_pansini@dekalbschoolsga.org