The South African Kids Lit Quiz Team 2012

In less than a month, the SA winners of the Kids Lit Quiz will take on the world’s finest readers in the 11-13 years old age category. Four Roedean girls will represent SA this year: Andrea Jury, Jacqueline Duvenage, Nina Jacobson and Ariane Trueblood. The countries represented in 2012 are: New Zealand, USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and South Africa.

In what has been dubbed the Olympic games of reading, the teams will answer questions on any book ever written for children in the English language. The questions are set by senior lecturer in children’s literature at the University of Auckland, Wayne Mills.

Exclusive Books is the proud sponsor of the Kids Lit Quiz in SA. Last year the SA team from Manor Gardens, Durban won the international quiz, with the largest margin in the twenty year history of the quiz.

About the quiz, from the Kids Lit Quiz site:

The Kids’ Lit Quiz is an annual literature quiz for students aged 10 – 13 years. Quizzes are held in New Zealand, the UK, South Africa, Canada and China. The winning team from each heat competes in a national final. National champions compete in the World Final.

The quiz was founded by by New Zealand quizmaster Wayne Mills, who reads enough books to write several thousands questions each year. He has never asked the same question twice, but do test your team with our sample questions.

Teams of four students are asked to answer 100 questions on children’s literature divided into ten categories, which vary each year. Examples of categories set previously: poetry, authors, titles, settings, characters, and nursery rhymes. Between each round Wayne sets questions for the spectators giving them the chance to win books.

We wish our team the best of luck, and look forward to their continued success.

Think you’re smarter than our team? How many of the below practice questions can you answer? These are taken from the sample questions for 2006 on the Kids Lit Quiz website.

1. Kate Greenaway was a famous illustrator who lived from 1846-1901. Today we best know her for the Kate Greenaway Medal, which is awarded to the most distinguished work in children’s illustrating. What country makes this award?
2. Who was the uncle who told lots of humorous stories about smaller animals outwitting larger ones? For example in Brer Rabbit and the Wonderful Tar Baby
3. Who owned a faithful dog called Snowy?
4. Who is the well-known author of these titles: Hacker, Pig-heart Boy and Noughts and Crosses?
5. In the picture book Rosie’s Walk, what type of creature was Rosie?
6. The popular Eyewitness Books with their very distinctive format are published by DK Publishing. What do the initials DK stand for?
7. What was the title of the famous classic by Johanna Spyri?
8. Who rides through the sky on giant leaves in David Weisner’s book Tuesday?
9. Who is currently the UK Children’s Laureate? [2006]
10. Author Astrid Lingren wrote about the adventures of a fiercely independent red-headed girl. What was her name?
11. Who said, “Nibble, nibble, like a mouse, who is nibbling at my house”?
12. Name the one-word book title starting with the letter S that won its author David Almond both the Carnegie and the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year Award in 1998.
13. Name this author. She was born in 1897 and died 1968. She was one of the most prolific authors of the twentieth century. She wrote books about fairies and brownies, and tales about enchanted woods and wishing chairs. Perhaps her most famous books were about two groups of children.
14. Who arrived one boring wet afternoon when Mother was out?
15. Name the first book in John Marsden’s war series.
16. How many books make up the Narnia series?
17. Who is the most capable female student, in her year at Hogwarts School?
18. What was the name of the heroic Collie dog created by Eric Knight?
19. A limerick has how many lines?
20. Anna Sewell wrote only one book, about a horse, in 1877 but it became a classic. What was its title?