Another year, another KLQ begins!

My association with the Kid’s Lit Quiz has been a long one, but yesterday marked a milestone – the furthest I’d ever travelled to attend a regional heat. Trevor and Diane, the local coordinators for the quiz, had collared me at the UK Final last year and coerced me into making the trek and I’m glad I did. It was great to be there at the beginning of Wayne’s latest campaign to find the world’s best team of young readers and the weather on the morning of the quiz was truly glorious. After a gentle start to the day (breakfast at 10am!) Trevor took Wayne and I for a brief walk along a short section of Hadrian’s wall where we found some great views and plenty to look at.

In the afternoon, it was time to get serious. Two teams of 3 authors did battle with a team of 4 librarians, alongside thirty teams of 4 youngsters. There was also a very impressive one man team from the Seven Stories bookshop, who posted some brilliant individual round scores that put some of our combined efforts to shame! After a very tight competition, the triumphant winners of the heat were this happy team from the host school, Gosforth Central Middle School, who won by a single point. I’m pleased to say that both teams of authors would have cruised home ahead of the children, but not so pleased that Linda Strachan, Gill Arbuthnott and Emma Barnes would have beaten Helen Limon, Ann Coburn and I by four points with an impressive total of 96.5 out of a possible 110.

I’m looking forwards now to attending five more regional finals over the coming weeks, culminating in the UK Final which will be held in Coventry at the beginning of December. My best wishes go to all those who are taking part this year. I hope you have a lot of fun. I know I will.