A new style of book review competition can be described as a valuable effort to share the pleasure of reading.
Participants talk in front of others about the appeal of books they recommend, and then a vote is held to decide which book people most feel like reading. This kind of competition is called a "bibliobattle."
Last month, a national bibliobattle tournament was held among high school students. Mai Innami, a high school student from Saitama Prefecture, presented a novel about a sign-language interpreter, saying, "What kind of image do you form when you hear about a work whose theme focuses on disabilities?"
Bibliobattle contestants have five minutes to introduce a book of their choice, followed by a question-and-answer period that lasts two or three minutes. After all their presentations, contestants and the audience cast their votes. In the latest contest, the book introduced by Innami was selected as the "champbook" with the most votes.
Through bibliobattle contestants, participants encounter books they did not expect to come across. While listening to contestants' presentations about the books they chose, people at the event will learn why they are attached to these books and what kind of people they are. The true pleasure of a bibliobattle lies in promoting connections between people and books and among people.
In addition to high school students, bibliobattle contests have been held among junior high school and university students as well. At local community centers and elsewhere, there are such bibliobattle events as those limited to people aged 40 or older. Events can also be organized in which the books to be presented are limited to romantic novels or comics.
Encourage kids to learn
One factor behind the appeal of bibliobattles is that the themes and categories of the books can be freely chosen in diverse ways.
The main feature of bibliobattles is that contestants recommend books they have found to be enjoyable and that will probably be enjoyed by others too, which is different from school-assigned books. People can expand the range of their reading experience during the process of looking for books they want to read on their own.
Many have said that young people are moving away from reading books. It is desirable for them to gain more opportunities to feel close to books through bibliobattles.
First of all, people should be able to deeply read and comprehend authors' thoughts as expressed in their books, among other things, if they want other people to understand the appeal of the works. In addition, they need the ability to convey the appeal of the books chosen in an easy-to-understand manner.
It has been said that Japan's school education needs to work on cultivating students' abilities to read and comprehend, as well as express themselves. More than a few schools have introduced a bibliobattle approach to their lessons. Such efforts are expected to serve as an initial step for children to learn things on their own initiative.
People's experience of making elaborate preparations to explain before others and giving a speech in persuasive language may be helpful for them on such occasions as proposing new products to customers after going out into the world.
Bibliobattles were first conceived by engineering researcher Tadahiro Taniguchi. His aim was to share knowledge with fellow researchers through book-hunting activities.
If people can freely enjoy a bibliobattle with their colleagues and friends, they will further enrich their time.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Feb. 16, 2020)
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