QUIZ MASTER
MEET THE GLOBETROTTING MASTERMIND WHO’S GETTING KIDS IMMERSED IN BOOKS
Wayne Mills gets kids reading
Wayne Mills’ Auckland home is set up like “the Starship Galactica”, he reckons.
He’s not wrong.
With an impressive library at the centre, and books lining his halls and corridors, Wayne “drives the ship” from the middle among the shelves of nursery rhymes, teen fiction and all the classics. You name it, it’s there. “I definitely need to get more bookshelves,” he muses.
For decades, Wayne has read thousands of children’s and adolescents’ books to build one of the most thorough quizzes in children’s literature.
As the quizmaster of The
Kids’ Lit Quiz for the past 27 years, Wayne has travelled to schools across New Zealand and 11 other countries to find the most avid young readers.
As a teacher and senior lecturer, it was attending his children’s prizegivings that spurred the idea. “You’d see prizes for sport, science, music and maths. But not reading.
I just thought, ‘Why not’?”
So every time he read a book, he would jot down a question and its answer when something piqued his interest. All these years later, he now has an ever-growing file cabinet full of questions and answers.
“I love reading,” Wayne says. “I always have a book in my hand before bed at night or on a plane.
When I read, I get so immersed in the book.”
But there are further reasons for his passion about encouraging children to read widely.
“We know that good readers have good vocabulary,” he explains. “Readers are good at decision-making and studies show they have a lot more empathy.”
Over the years, Wayne could be credited with being a catalyst behind children picking up thousands of books.
One special participant, though, is none other than New Zealand singer Lorde (Ella Yelich-O’Connor) who, as a 12-year-old, represented New Zealand in Johannesburg with the quiz. “I remember her absolutely. She was reading a book a day when she was 12. She was a fantastic reader!”
Now retired, Wayne has made the quiz his full-time job and spends six months of the year travelling to the various competitions around the globe.
But he’s not alone, he says. The quiz couldn’t run without the help of his wife Pa, who assists with the administration side. Pa, originally from Thailand, speaks Thai, Japanese and English (the latter is her third language). She credits the quiz with helping her improve her English and discover a love for reading.
“When I meet people and work with them, it especially helps me with English and the different accents – I have trouble with accents,” Pa giggles. Wayne adds, “Now, she reads in English but when we first met, she could hardly say the word quiz.”
The pair were set up six years ago, thanks to Wayne’s son and his wife, who is Pa’s niece. “The children had been trying to get us to meet for years and believed we’d get on really well,” he tells. “We clicked so well. We have the same values. We’re both fussy and clean, and we both place a big importance on family. And
Pa is a reader too. I couldn’t have married someone who isn’t a reader.”
Every quiz takes about three hours and participants can answer anywhere between 70 and 100 questions based on just about every children’s book that’s ever been written.
Wayne says it takes about a year to put the world final quiz together. “My credibility stands or falls on whether or not I’ve read a book,” he laughs.
“But probably, there’s no-one else in the world who could say they are as current as I am across children’s literature covering as many countries as I do.”
And thanks to a simple love of reading, he has made an impact all over the world.
“Reading opens doors, literally and physically. And books are shaped like doors – you think that’s an accident? Of course not! It has opened doors for us all around the world, from meeting authors to volunteers and children.
“I could never have foreseen the global network. It all comes down to volunteers. They are the lifeblood of quiz. What a legacy to leave if this carries on beyond my lifetime.”