Students from Bellevue’s Woodridge Elementary School have won the King County Library System 2012-2013 Global Reading Challenge.

The team, “Roaring Readers,” defeated students from schools in the Lake Washington, Auburn and Tukwila school districts. In all, more than 200 students from 56 school participated in the challenge. The competition concluded March 22.

The challenge is a cooperative effort between King County Library System and local public school districts. The Battle of the Books style program that allows fourth and fifth graders across the county to work together as a team and challenge other schools to correctly answer questions about the selected books.

Each year, King County Library System Children’s Librarians select 10 titles in a wide range of reading levels especially suited to the interests of young readers. The goal is to encourage students at all reading levels to engage in teamwork while reading some of the best in children’s literature. Each team must include some students with lower-level reading skills.

Challenge questions are based on specific and factual information within the books. All challenges are conducted by King County Library System staff.

Initially, a challenge is held at the individual school level. The top team from each school proceeds on to their School District Challenge, with that winner moving on to the Regional Challenges. Regional winners compete in the Grand Challenge.