Education

‘Sport of reading’ comp brings book-savvy young readers to Auckland

<h2>The world’s brightest young readers will converge on Auckland next month as New Zealand hosts the Kids’ Lit Quiz 2018 World Final&period;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>National champions from nine countries will compete for the World title in the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;sport of reading” on Wednesday July 4&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Bonding over a love of books that transcends country and culture&comma; the super-readers will enjoy an action-packed week of experiences&comma; and ultimately face-off in the World Final Quiz event&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Competing in the Kids’ Lit Quiz World Final 2018 are&colon;<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<ul>&NewLine;<li>New Zealand&colon; Belmont Intermediate School&comma; Auckland<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>United Kingdom&colon; Oxford High School<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>United States&colon; Longfellow Middle School&comma; Virginia<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Canada&colon; Lee Academy&comma; Hamilton<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>South Africa&colon; Manor Gardens&comma; Durban<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Hong Kong&colon; Hong Kong Home School<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Indonesia&colon; Binus School Bekasi&comma; Jakarta<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Singapore&colon; Raffles Girls’ School Secondary<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Australia&colon; Canberra Grammar School<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ul>&NewLine;<p>A Kiwi invention&comma; the Kids’ Lit Quiz has been inspiring children around the world for 27 years to become life-long readers&comma; challenging and motivating them to further expand their knowledge of authors and genres&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It has since grown to 13 countries&comma; with more than 8000 children taking part worldwide&period; This year Indonesia competed for the first time&comma; with Nigeria and Thailand set to take part in 2019&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Highlights of the week-long visit will include a trip to Hobbiton in Matamata&comma; a workshop with award-winning young adult author Stacy Gregg&comma; visits to the Star Dome Observatory and Auckland Museum&comma; and a celebratory gala dinner&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Founder and quizmaster Wayne Mills&comma; who writes every question himself and was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his work with the Kids’ Lit Quiz&comma; says the calibre at the World Final will be sky-high&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;These students have already proven themselves to be exceptional readers&period; On top of a lifetime of voracious reading&comma; they have trained and studied for categories that could include author biographies&comma; plot summaries&comma; and first lines of books&period; There are no prescribed texts – these children are simply experts at reading vastly and widely&comma; and retaining knowledge&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>New Zealand teams have a sterling record on the world stage&comma; winning five of the 14 international finals&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Kids’ Lit Quiz Patron Chloe Wright&comma; who is the CEO of the Wright Family Foundation&comma; says the event inspires a passion for literacy in young people&comma; helping them develop empathy and emotional intelligence&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Global friendships will be made&comma; and our hope is the children involved come out inspired and uplifted&comma; knowing they&&num;8217&semi;ve gained a life experience and skills that will set them up for life&comma;” says Chloe&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>The students’ accommodation&comma; meals and excursions have been paid for by Kids’ Lit Quiz sponsor the Wright Family Foundation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Kids’ Lit Quiz is also supported by Whitcoulls&comma; South Pacific Books and Softlink&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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