The human geography of Alaska is as diverse as its climate and topography, and 20 native groups, all of them with their own languages and cultural history, as well as many isolated areas. The Battle of the Books, an English-as-a-Second-Language competitive reading program, has been successful in Alaska because through it, diverse people and entire villages have finally been able to communicate with each other via the teleconferencing of the contest. The program began in Chicago in the 1940s and was eventually brought to Kodiak Island and developed into a statewide effort. Originally, the Kodiak Island contest was intended to promote reading among low socioeconomic group students and link villages through a teleconferencing network. The contest consists of teams of readers grouped by reading level whose task is to read a predetermined number of books in a specific time period. Teams meeting the contest deadline may then compete with each other. Preparation for the competition is extensive, involving enriched instruction, literacy activities that extend the school day to the home environment, which is often literacy-poor. The only problem has been obtaining commitment to the program as a literacy immersion activity institutionalized in the schools. Contest rules and guidelines and a 35-item bibliography are included. (MSE)