"But in the nationals you had a buzzer, and only the team that hit their buzzer first with the right answer got the point.
"It was really high pressure."
The team was neck and neck with Wellesley - the defending champions - at half time.
Hazel said the team had done "lots and lots" of studying beforehand, reading dozens of books per week and even foregoing watching television in favour of studying.
"We practised answering questions with a buzzer every day," she said.
Toni said each team member had had a specific area of literature to study.
All four agreed they had done much better than expected and were pleased with the result - although Calum felt a little disappointed.
"If we'd won, we would have got to go to the world Kids Lit Quiz in Canada, and that would have been awesome," he said.
For their high placing, each team member won $100, a book and a medal.
Whanganui Intermediate School librarian Cathie Calman, who helped train the team for the competition and travelled to Wellington to support them, said she was thrilled by the students' success.
"Second in New Zealand is pretty amazing, especially as three of the team had never competed at this level before. It was a very difficult competition," Mrs Calman said.
Mrs Calman said the students were "very passionate" about reading, and were motivated to do well at the quiz. But they had also behaved with great team spirit, she said.
"An adjudicator pulled me aside at one stage and said they'd noted that our kids had conducted themselves very well - they worked as a team, and clapped whenever any other team did well."
Mrs Calman said Toni, Kathleen, Calum and Hazel would be formally presented with their medals in front of the whole school during assembly.