SA’s lit quiz whizzes lead the world
“It was a dark and stormy night. In her attic bedroom Margaret Murry . . .”
If you know what book these opening lines are from, chances are you love reading almost as much as the four boys who won the Kids’ Lit Quiz world final this month.
Hongjae Noh, Sahaj Mooji, Joshua Bruwer and Khelan Desai all know the book is A
Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, first published in 1962.
It was one of the questions they answered without hesitation in the competition in Toronto, Canada, beating the US in the final round by 40 points to 27.
The 12-year-olds from St John’s Preparatory School in Johannesburg are addicted to reading, each devouring between five and seven books a week.
All four said a love of reading had been instilled in them from a young age.
“I had a teacher last year who said every book you read is a life you’ve lived, which I think is true,” said Hongjae.
“Most of us were born into it and then our parents developed it. My mom would always read to me every night. We have around 1 000 books at home.”
Sahaj said: “When I lived in Cape Town my mom used to take me to the library every day to read.”
The quiz primarily focused on children’s and young adult literature aimed at those aged nine to 13.
Nicky Sulter, the school librarian who has been training the St Johns team since 2004, said: “It’s a huge range, it’s not like a list you can study. It includes everything from picture books to comic books, and books to movies.”
The boys, all in Grade 7 except for Joshua, who is in Grade 6, beat other regional teams to represent the country. It was the third victory for South Africa in the quiz world final. Khelan said the team got off to a shaky start. “The first two categories we were a little bit behind, so I said play it safe, but then we got ahead.”
This year the most obscure category was “residences” — the quizmaster describes a home that appears in a story, and contestants have to identify which fictional character lives there.
“[The quizmaster] starts with very general, confusing, red herring-type descriptions and gets more and more specific,” Sulter said.
“The more specific it gets, the greater the chance that somebody else is going know the answer. It’s about knowing when to answer because once you’ve buzzed to answer and you get it wrong, you lose a point and you can’t come back into that question.”
Each question can be about five minutes long and tension builds as the quizmaster progresses.
Sulter did her best to prepare the boys by giving them books to read. The boys also chose their own books according to their interests.
“We have our own specific field that we specialise in. I like opening lines, mythology and some graphic novel stuff,” said Joshua.
But their success comes from years of reading, and, Hongjae said, knowledge accumulated over time. “In Grade 3 and 4 I was banned from reading because I wouldn’t pay attention in class; I’d always have a book under the desk,” he said.
One question that had them all fooled gave details of a girl who went to school with the Spider-man characters Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy and Liz Allan.
“Everyone thought it was Mary Jane,” said Joshua.
“But it was actually Jessica Jones,” said Sahaj.
The boys said they took part in sport at school only because it was compulsory.
Sahaj’s interests, apart from reading, include playing the violin and piano.
“I love video games,” said Khelan. “It’s all I do on the weekend.”
Joshua said: “Reading is actually a lot more stimulating than video games — but please don’t tell my friends I said this.”