Kids Lit Quiz Australia: 2015 in review

This has been an exciting year for the Kids' Lit Quiz around the world and the 2015 Australian Quiz was no exception, bringing the "sport of reading" to even more Australian schools.  

For all our friends in the international Kids' Lit Quiz community and everyone at Reading for Australia, here's National Coordinator, Nicole Deans' review of this year's competition, a true celebration of good books and great readers.  

Thanks also to Queensland coordinator, Jenny Stubbs, for her photos and comments and to Wayne Mills, quizmaster and founder of the Kids' Lit Quiz (in New Zealand, 24 years ago) for his additional comments and observations. These have been added to Nicole's report, together with links to other related posts and resources.

The 2015 Australian team with Nicole Deans, Wayne Mills and their coach

Congratulations to the team from Orange High School, the 2015 national champions. Our first all-girl national team will now represent Australia at the world final in New Britain, Connecticut, USA in July.

With its purpose of encouraging and celebrating literacy in children aged 10 to 13 years, Kids' Lit Quiz Australia is delighted with its growth in 2015. It has been enormously satisfying to see so many children enjoy the benefits of reading while discovering an international community of like-minded readers.

From humble beginnings in 2012, with the one heat/final in Orange involving 13 teams and a handful of schools, Kids' Lit Quiz Australia has grown to 5 heats, 96 teams, 56 schools and 384 keen readers in 2015. As Wayne Mills says, "We were all delighted with the 39% increase in teams participating across the Australian competition of the Kids' Lit Quiz."

The enthusiasm shown by both the teams and their teachers/coaches shows the value the Kids' Lit Quiz adds to literacy programs in schools. With its focus on reading widely for pleasure by giving kids an open choice of reading matter and the opportunity for teamwork, the Kids' Lit Quiz offers a unique and fun way for schools to build literacy in their communities.

Thank you to all our wonderful sponsors, donors, supporters, hosts, authors and school communities without whom none of this would have been possible. We hope the 2015 Kids' Lit Quiz Australia was an enjoyable experience for you too and that you all come back next year for more literary fun and games.

Stripes and Stars: Queensland 2014

The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss (1957, Random House, Houghton Mifflin)

"How many stripes on the Cat in Hat's hat?"

The question drew chuckles, in-the-air finger counting and some frowns from the 30+ teams of star readers assembled at the Queensland heat of the 2014 Kids Lit Quiz, held at the Ipswich Girls Grammar School on Tuesday, February 19.

It was one of 100 questions that challenged the breadth and depth of knowledge that was needed to compete in the "sport of reading".

Romancing the Stars

A book event for kids, Romancing the Stars, is an appropriate topic for Valentine's Day!  Check it out.

Book Links (QLD) Inc. will hold its annual Romancing the Stars Event at Bulimba State School, Oxford Street, Bulimba on Thursday, February 20 from 5.30 pm (for 6.00pm start).  

Twenty-one leading national and local children’s book creators including Isobelle Carmody, Michael Gerard Bauer, Kate Knapp  and Pamela Rushby will ‘speed date’ small groups of guests sharing insights into their recent publications, upcoming publications and their creative process.  We have 6 new books to launch at the event.  Special guest Rosie Borella is flying in from Melbourne to launch her new book and will be in conversation with Isobelle Carmody.

Working with Books by Jenny Stubbs

If you're a reader, chances are that you are also interested in meeting your favourite authors and find out more about the processes involved in writing and illustrating. I know I always did! And if you like reading now, you may also want to work with books in the future – whether it’s as an author, illustrator, publisher, editor or – as in my case – children’s literature festival organiser.

Through my job with the StoryArts Festival Ipswich, I get to meet some of my literary heroes and learn more about book craft at each Festival. We've just held our 10th Festival and have grown and learned with each one.  The StoryArts Festival Ipswich is for people like you and me, who love reading and who work – or want to work – with books.