Whanganui Intermediate attempts to go back-to-back at 'sport of reading'

Whanganui Intermediate School's runners up from the Kids' Lit Quiz New Zealand national final in 2017. Photo/ File

Whanganui Intermediate School students will try to defend their status as Taranaki/Whanganui regional champions of the Kids' Lit Quiz on Tuesday, April 6 in New Plymouth.

The Kids' Lit Quiz is an international competition created 27 years ago in New Zealand by quizmaster Wayne Mills who calls it "the sport of reading".

Having won the regional competition in 2017, Whanganui Intermediate gained entry to the New Zealand national final in Wellington, where they finished in second place.

Finishing behind Wellesley College meant that Whanganui Intermediate agonisingly missed out on a spot in the world final held in Toronto, Canada.

Head of English at Whanganui Intermediate Dawn Duncum said they will be striving to go one better in 2018.

"Our students always like to go one better, we've been second twice and third once, we've just never cracked the winning of the national one," she said.

"The kids have been working really hard, they meet with our librarian Cathie Calman at least a couple of times a week and have read lots of books. That's kind of all you can do."

Whanganui Intermediate are sending two teams to the heats, each team has four members and they can be from 10 to 13 years old.

At the nationals, there are 10 rounds of 10 questions asked by the quizmaster - students write down their answers on a piece of paper and then have them checked.

"His rounds are really obscure, he could have a round on water, which means there has got to be a connection between every book and water," Ms Duncum said.

"Or a round on siblings, you just never know what he's going to come up with."

Basically, every question relates to something in a book, ranging from nursery rhymes to books for young adults.

The answer required might need to be the name of a book, the name of an author, or the name of a particular character within a book.

When asked what they needed to do to win the national final, Ms Duncum laughed and said "we hope that he asks the right questions".

"No, first we've got to focus on the Whanganui/Taranaki competition. Our students love it, they call it the sport of reading and it's really important to them."