Philadelphia Reading Olympics

The Philadelphia Reading Olympics is a city-wide collaborative reading competition that aims to foster a love of reading, develop teamwork skills, and bring students from different parts of the city together.

five kids reading

What It Is

The Reading Olympics is Philadelphia's largest annual reading competition, engaging up to 2000 students from 4th-8th grade from Philadelphia's public, parochial, charter, and independent schools, as well as after school programs. In May, the teams will come together at universities around the city for a fun, friendly competition!

How It Works

Participating students read an extensive book list and practice working together as a team to prepare for the big day. This collaboration creates a unique learning experience where the literacy, competitive and interpersonal skills of each child grows significantly by striving collectively toward a common goal. By the end of the competition, each student will have read quality literature and discussed important themes, plot twists, and characters. In addition to improving literacy skills, our goal is to organically foster a love of reading in each student that will be the foundation for their current and future success!

We are excited to announce that, beginning this year, this fun and friendly competition will be a collaboration between Philadelphia READS and The Free Library of Philadelphia. The Free Library has supported Reading Olympics for many years, and we are happy to have the opportunity to continue this fun and exciting event for Philadelphia students.

Book Lists