Not every middle school student specializes in information about Jane Austen’s books, or are whizzes at naming books based only on the first line. These areas of expertise and more helped the Longfellow Kids Literature team win first in the country in this year’s competition.

The winning team from each of the 11 countries that participate, progresses on to the world finals. Unfortunately, the world finals, which were supposed to be held in New Zealand this year on July 13th,  have been canceled.

“I love reading, so the club got me interested in a lot more books,” said Claire S., a Kids Lit Quiz team member. She reads two to three books a week, and thanks to Kids Lit Quiz, their genres may vary.

The questions often use obscure books, which encourages members to read widely.  For example, a question might describe a book and provide the author’s name, then members must provide the title.  They’ll often be books they’ve never heard of, like Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes, by Jonathan Auxier.   These questions are a great source to find book recommendations.

During meetings, club members are assigned a genre to read. These genres include everything from horror books to science fiction. During the next practice, there is a category devoted entirely to that genre. This specific round of questions provides students with a reason to prioritize reading during the week since fitting reading for pleasure into your schedule can be a challenge for middle and high school students, according to Common Sense Media, an online guide to technology, education, and media.

“I’m always touched to see students checking out armfuls of books and raring to dive in right away,” said Kids Lit Quiz coach Julia Fu about the mid-meeting library visits. “I love when students get really excited about a question, especially when they get really loud and animated after finding out an answer they missed on a book they already read.”

The first round of questions is a written round of questions that club members answer in teams. The second round of questions is an oral round of questions that are answered in small teams or individually. According to Fu, the questions gradually become easier as the rounds progress.

Kids Lit Quiz is a club and competition that is versatile and could be different for each person. It provides a place to discuss books and to bring out your competitive spirit. “I love when students get really excited about a question, especially when they get really loud and animated after finding out an answer they missed on a book they already read.  The high energy level tells me they’re enjoying themselves, and that’s pretty rewarding,” said Fu.