Four Grade Seven girls at Hodgson Middle School are Canadian champions in the brainy international competition known as Kids’ Lit Quiz. For their hard work, intelligence and calm under fire, Gillian, Julia, Lila and Leah are heading to Singapore this July to compete for the Kids’ Lit world championship. Team Canada (previously the Hodgson Hawks) will compete against national teams from ten other English-speaking countries. The girls gained the right to compete in Singapore by winning the national championship held at McMaster University in Hamilton in January. Their victory was solid as they finished 9 points ahead of second place Tecumseh Elementary School from Vancouver. John T. Tuck Public School of Burlington finished third. Judges noted it was the first time in eight years that a public school has won national honours. The team will be holding an online auction from May 23 to June 2 to raise funds for the girls’ airfare to Singapore and to donate to Kids’ Lit Canada. Authors and local businesses have generously donated more than 100 items for the auction.
Kids Lit Quiz is the creation of Wayne Mills, a former professor at the University of Auckland. It’s first year was 1991 and since then it has seen thousands of students 10 to 13 from around the globe participate. It has been nicknamed with remarkable accuracy the Sport of Reading. Kids stand by their buzzers in teams of four to answer questions about the written works, life, times and maybe even the idiosyncracies of English language authors past and present. Kids’ Lit Quiz has spread to eleven countries where English is a universal, and usually, the first language. They are Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, United Kingdom, Canada and the US. Now Gillian, Julia, Lila and Leah are at work with Hodgson teachers Ms Diane Stewart and Mr. Evan Tarleton, determined to win in Singapore.
