Well read
- Tracey Weiss
- Mar 27
- 5 min read
Kid Lit Club takes first place in the national Kids’ Lit Quiz and set their sights on the international contest this summer
By Tracey Weiss
editor
Forget sports—this competition may be harder than anything requiring physical aptitude.
King Philip Middle School’s Team 1 will represent West Hartford and the U.S. when they go to New Zealand in July to compete in the Kids’ Lit Quiz, an annual literature contest for students aged 10-13. They’ll be competing against teams from around the world in an intense and brainy battle of the books.
This number 1 team—8th graders Amy Long, Vera Kozmin, and Jillian Forrest, and 7th grader A.J. Salerno—won big. They scored so high, it even shook Wayne Mills, the founder of Kids’ Lit Quiz.
“Team 1 totally dominated. They beat the second-place team by more than double the points. (Wayne) could not believe it,” said David St. German, library media specialist at King Philip. St. Germain and 8th grade teacher Carissa Teff advise the 7th and 8th grade teams; teacher Kim Harrell is advisor to the 6th grade teams. Despite not making it to the next round, five teams from the school competed in the nationals, and “two out of our five teams at the school made it to the finals,” St, Germain said.
“The first week, we were in shock when we heard we won,” A.J. said.
“I was really excited,” Vera said.
Laurie Rich Salerno, A.J.’s mother, agrees that this is an exciting, once-in-a-lifetime experience for them. “We are really proud of the whole group,” she said. “And thankful to the school and staff. It’s become a home and created a group of readers who are interested in books and like each other. We are immensely grateful. It’s created a space where they can find their people.”
Indeed, all the teams of the teams still like to hang out, read and discuss books.
“They’re all fun and kind and crazy,” St. Germain said.
“The energy is startling to me,” Teff laughed.
Team 1 meets once a week during their lunch period and every other Wednesday to continue getting ready for July.
“In some ways, these kids have been preparing for this since before kindergarten,” St. Germain said.
“They’ve been read to all their lives by their parents.” And they are always in the library, he added.
“Vera always has a book open walking down the hall,” Teff said. “I’m always worried for her safety.”
While the love of all things literature is a factor, Team 1 is taking in as much knowledge as they can, for good reason.
What makes it so difficult? There is no hint or advance knowledge of what the categories will be. Students must make their own choices on what they learn. The questions could be about anything, according to Teff.
“We make sure to learn about the author,” Vera said. “We search authors and read about them.”
Each member of the team has certain strengths they bring to the table. Amy loves mythology. Vera like fantasy novels, poets and children’s nursery rhymes. Jillian likes fantasy, “like Percy Jackson and those kinds of things,” Jillian added. “Books about social issues and graphic novels.”
“A.J. dabbles in everything,” Vera said. “He’s good at characters.”
According to the Kids’ Lit Quiz website, Wayne Mills “reads enough books to write several thousand questions each year. The questions always vary.” He is a former a former Auckland University Education Senior Lecturer who wanted to increase readership in kids at an age when it is known to lag.
“The World Final consists of ten categories with seven questions in each category. All teams start with ten points. The questions are read aloud by the Quizmaster and once a team knows the answer they push a buzzer. An incorrect answer loses one point, but a correct answer gains two points.”
When the team goes to Paihia, Bay of Islands, New Zealand, they’ll be competing against the winning teams from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Singapore, South Africa, and Thailand.
St. Germain hopes the trip spurs some new friendships. “This is a place to get to know other kids who love reading,” St. Germain said. “The focus is on them.”
In addition to the contest, the kids use part of their 8-day adventure to go to a museum, take a boat ride, do an author visit and workshop, and to the delight of the team members, take a much-desired trip to Hobbiton, where the “Lord of the Rings” movies were filmed.
While the cost of the trips is covered, fundraising has begun to cover the cost of flights for the team and St. Germain and Teff, who are chaperoning the group, as well as that much anticipated trip to Hobbiton. The group has started a GoFundMe drive to help defray costs for families and faculty advisors. To donate, go to https://gofund.me/54d5cde64. WHL
2025 Practice Questions
Here’s a sample of some of the questions on the Kids’ Lit Quiz website, of what the teams competing in the international competition can expect:
(Answers below)
1) What food did Paddington have with him when he arrived in England?
2) What revolting couple played nasty jokes on one another?
3) What would happen to Pinocchio’s nose when he told lies?
4) Ankh Morpork is the corrupt and polluted capital city of what world?
5) ‘To be or not to be that is the’ what?
6) The Princess and the Foal was the story about the royal princess of which Middle Eastern country?
7) What would Enola Holmes often say about the spelling of her name?
8) What animal laughed in Hey, Diddle Diddle?
9) Give an anagram for shelf.
10) Which teacher in Harry Potter can turn herself into a cat?
11) What food did Hansel drop so that he could follow it back to home?
12) What donkey lived in the 100 Aker Wood?
13) What name is given to identical sounds often at the beginning of words?
14) Forest Hills School won the regional heat of the Kid Lit Quiz, in the book “The Undercover Book List” by Colleen Nelson when they gave the correct answer to who is the author of the book Liar & Spy. Who is this book’s author?
15) Elsie is a weredragon and the best roommate friend of whom in a book by B.B. Alston?
16) Smaug, the dragon, lived in the mountain guarding his treasure hoard. By what name was the mountain known?
17) How many times a day would food fall from the sky in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs?
18) The Cat in the Hat wore only two items of clothing, a hat and what else?
19) What character wears a monocle and a top hat in Batman?
20) What animals belong in clans called: Thunder, River, Wind, Shadow, Sky, Star?
Answers to the 2025 Practice Questions:
1) Marmalade.
2) Mr. & Mrs. Twit
3) It would grow
4) Discworld
5) Question
6) Jordan
7) That it was the word alone spelt backwards
8) Dog
9) Flesh
10) Professor McGonagall
11) Bread
12) Eeyore
13) Alliteration
14) Rebecca Stead
15) Amari Peters
16) Lonely Mountain (Accept Erebor)
17) Three (breakfast, lunch and dinner)
18) Bow tie
19) Penguin (Accept Oswald)
20) Cats