Welcome to the 2016 American heats of the International Kids’ Lit Quiz™. This is a literary quiz which aims to broaden students’ knowledge and encourage a love of reading. It is open to students in Years six, seven and eight all of whom must be under fourteen years on 1st July 2016,
We are growing in leaps and bounds and in order to accommodate our numbers, there will be two heats (Wednesday January 28th and Thursday January 29th 6:30-9:30 pm). Three to five of top teams will be selected from each heat to compete in the US Final to be held on Friday, January 29th at Welte Auditorium, 6:30 -9:30 pm (Snow Day Saturday January 30th (2:00-5 :00 pm). All events will be held in Welte Auditorium on campus at Central Connecticut State University.
Because we understand that selecting a team may take time, a pre-test is made available that may assist you in your school’s selection. The pre-test is intended to be given to a team rather than an individual. All you really need, however, are a group of four students who read widely. The team then works collaboratively during the quiz to answer 100 questions in ten categories. The categories are diverse in order to cater for all reading tastes. Book prizes are awarded and there are prizes for the winning team. The event lasts for three hours, with a twenty-minute break at the halfway point.
Known as ‘the sport of reading’ the Kids’ Lit Quiz™ encourages students to broaden their reading and creates an awareness of genre, authors and titles. The competition is designed to be huge fun, with an element of competition, personal challenge and reward that is seldom available to children whose passion is reading. Just taking part in one of the regional heats provides important experiences that many children may not otherwise have.
Last year CCSU hosted the World Final right here in Connecticut! It was a wonderfully rich cross-cultural experience for families, coaches and teams and all who participated! This year the World Final of the Quiz will be held during the 2016 IBBY World Congress in New Zealand. IBBY is like the world body of children’s literature and stands for International Board on Books for Young People (see http://www.ibbycongress2016.org/). This is great honour and will showcase the Kids’ Lit Quiz to the world. We would like to offer this year’s winning team from The United States an invitation to attend this event in Auckland NZ during August (16th-22nd) 2016.
We look forward to receiving your entry.
We are working on creating a new website which will post the 2016 Entry Packet. Meanwhile please email me and I will send it out to you via email until everything is up and running. Please do not hesitate to contact Dr Cathy Kurkjian, the US National co-ordinator, at kurkjianc@mail.ccsu.edu<mailto:kurkjianc@mail.ccsu.edu> if you need any further information. The Kids’ Lit Quiz website is: www.kidslitquiz.com<http://www.kidslitquiz.com>.
Good luck
Cathy Kurkjian and Wayne Mills
Shannon McNeice
Library Media Specialist
West Hartford, CT 06107