Dubai girl tops challenge by reading 147 books
Six winners picked in three categories from 175 contestants
Haneya Multani, a Year 5 student at Dubai British School, has emerged as the most voracious reader in the Browzly Summer Reading Challenge after clinching the title for reading the highest number of books, third year in a row.
Bhavna Mishra, founder of Browzly, an app-based reading platform which organised the challenge across eight schools in the UAE, said Haneya read 147 books this summer, taking the total number of books she has covered during summers to 529 since 2017 when the challenge was first launched.
The 2019 challenge, which ran during the summer holidays, required students in two age groups (9-13 and 6-8) to sign up to the platform and register their readings. “Every time they read a book, they had to scan the ISBN code of the book on the app. We also encouraged them to write text reviews or video reviews about the books. When this is done, their peers get to see it, like it or make a comment. They are also motivated to read the book.”
Mishra said 175 students from eight schools participated in the challenge. “The schools included Gems Modern Academy, Kings Nad Al Sheba, Gems Cambridge International, The Millennium School in Dubai, Dubai Scholars, The English College, Dubai British School (DBS) and DBS Jumeirah Park.
The challenge selected six winners in all in the two age groups – one each as reader of the highest number of books, one each as creator of the best
video review and one each as the best writer of text review.
While Haneya won the best reader title in the 9-13 age group, Belle Hererra, also from DBS, was chosen creator of the best video review for her review of Call me Alastair by Cory Leonardo and also writer of the best text review award for her review of The Shapeshifter’s Guide to Running Away by Lori Don. Belle shared the prize for best text review with Karthika Manoj, a student from The Millennium School Dubai for her review of Esio Trot by Roald Dahl.
In the 6-8 age bracket, Isha K. Nair, a Year 1 student of Kings School Nada Al Sheba, won two titles - reader of the highest number of books (67 books) and creator of the best video review.
Edward Menadue, a student of Year 1 also from DBS won the writer of the best text review title for his review of Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants by Dav Pikey.