Young quiz whizzes right on the buzzer

By JO-MARIE BAKER
What is Lemony Snicket's real name? Which famous detective plays the violin? What is the last part of a book called?
Year 7 students from Tauranga Intermediate proved they had the answers to all these questions and more when they beat 43 other teams to win a place in the national final of the annual Kids Lit Quiz.
Harry Frentz, Kristen Vanderschantz, Niamh Blackman, Loren McCarthy and reserve Lydia Verschaffelt won the Waikato/Bay of Plenty title in Hamilton on Wednesday night by one point after a tense showdown with other Year 7 and Year 8 teams.
Tauranga Intermediate librarian Pat Osman coached the students and said they didn't know they had won until the last moment.
"We didn't know if we were first or fifth because it was so close. They all leapt about one metre in the air when they won."
The students had spent many hours studying before and after class and were even allowed to skip school assemblies to prepare.
The 100 quiz questions were divided into 10 categories such as famous women, colours, myths and legends and nursery rhymes. The questions themselves drew on students' knowledge of individual books, authors and publishers.
"The hardest questions we had to guess but we got quite a few of the guesses right," Niamh said.
Loren had previously come across Lemony Snicket's real name (Daniel Handler) and Harry knew straight away that Sherlock Holmes played the violin. "He also drinks cocoa," he added.
All five students love to read, and several of them want to be authors when they're older.
"With a movie you can't imagine what things will look like because they're there in front of you. Reading is more creative," Niamh said.
The students will now travel to Auckland on June 11 to compete for the national title against 16 other regional winners. The ultimate prize is a trip to compete at the world final in Oxford, England, in July.
"I think it'll be a bit of a challenge but I think we can handle it," Harry said.
Tauranga Intermediate's technology department is creating buzzers for the team to practise with before the Auckland competition and Mrs Osman said the pressure would be on.
"The Aotea Centre is a big place to take kids so I want to prepare them as well as I can," she said.
"I knew these kids were good right from the start. They've got great potential and their enthusiasm is just brimming over."