Season's Greetings

Happy Christmas to you all.

I hope that all of you who read this, follow and support Armadillo Magazine have been enjoying all our efforts this year.

We have lots of wonderful book reviews, interviews and features to bring you in 2011 so do keep an eye out for our editions and keep an eye on the Blog for the latest news and events.

Remember that the December edition is there for you to read now with some great reviews and more as well as a seasonal competition for you to enter - please do!

In the meantime I hope that you have all been surviving the snow and that you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Watch this space in January for all the bright new things we have to offer you.

All the best, Louise & the Armadillo team!

Kids Lit Quiz A Triumph Yet Again!

With thanks to Nicky Potter who kindly sent the following report on the national final of the Kids Lit Quiz:

Fun and excitement were the name of the game at the Kids Lit Quiz Finals™, held in Oxford Town Hall on 30 November, when the cream of our young readers came together from 13 regions around the country (extreme weather conditions prevented 2 teams from joining in) to compete for the Kids' Lit Quiz™ coveted cup.

Children’s author, actor and comedian Charlie Higson, creator of the Young Bond series and new zombie thriller series The Enemy, led almost 30 children’s authors to congratulate the winners from the regions and to support them as they answered questions on children's literature put to them by KLQ's dynamic quizmaster, Wayne Mills.

The atmosphere at a Kids’ Lit Quiz™ heat has been compared to “a pub quiz without the beer”, marked by high stakes – the teams knew that the UK winners will travel to New Zealand next July for a 20th BIRTHDAY INTERNATIONAL CELEBRATION QUIZ. Half way through the quiz, Wayne Mills announced that to mark the special anniversary the runners-up would also win the chance to compete in New Zealand. This was fortunate because two teams achieved exactly the same score. They then had to take part in ‘a sudden death’ competition – getting the best of three challenging questions correct – to win the finals. Two other teams also had to battle for third and fourth place because they had clocked up the same number of points! It was all nail-bitingly tense!

In the end the results were:
First – Cockermouth School (UK champions)

Second – Bristol Grammar School (English champions)

Third: Litcham High School

Fourth: Glasgow High

The first and second place winner have both won a place to compete in the 20th Birthday International Celebration Quiz in New Zealand so watch this space for more information.

One of the members of the four strong winning team at Cockermouth comprehensive school said that he had not really got into reading until Mrs Farrar, his school librarian and team coach, kept giving him books to read.

Wayne Mills said: “We had a wonderfully exciting finish to the UK Final. I couldn't have written a more exciting script had I tried. The quiz is a genuine literary challenge that goes beyond what a child may be reading at school. It embraces popular culture and contemporary modern texts alongside the more established canon, including the ephemeral literature that is here today and gone tomorrow but enjoyed by children in the moment. Reading mileage is the single biggest factor in improving literacy.”

For further information about the Kids’ Lit Quiz ™ in the UK see: http://www.kidslitquiz.com/national-competitions/united-kingdom