Over this last term, ten of our year nine students have been busy ploughing their way through six specified books. Their task was to remember tiny plot details and quiz it out against 14 other teams from the Top of the South Region.
The competition inspires the students to explore new authors and genres in books and is valuable training in teamwork. Regional winners go on to compete in the National competition and it is a great way for our younger students to represent the school in an academic capacity.
Brooke takes up the story for us:
On Wednesday 19 June, 10 year nines went over to Nayland College in Nelson to compete in the Top of the South Readers' Cup. We had six books to read over several weeks and then we were split into two teams of five. We named our teams: the MGC Book Thieves and The Hollow Hunters, making reference to some of the books.
Once we got to Nelson we were able to get into our costumes, have some morning tea and then the competition began. There were 10 questions about each book and we had 30 seconds to answer each one. When we had finished all the rounds, each team was asked to come up on stage to vote for best dressed outfit (Nayland College won that). Then it was time for the results.
The MGC Book Thieves came fourth and got a free book, but were only a ¼ of a point behind the third team. The Hollow Hunters got second place and won a plant, a certificate, a Bunnings gift voucher (which we sold to our parents so we could buy books) and a free book. Nayland College won the competition this year. The competition was really fun and I would definitely do it again.
Mrs Shipley and Brooke Pontague