Last term, I had the opportunity to be involved in the 2024 Year 9/10 Reader’s Cup team. While we didn’t place, we had a great time and read some awesome books. If you’re unfamiliar with Reader’s Cup, it’s an inter-school competition, where teams selected from each school will be given the same books to read, and then quizzed at a competition. It can be pretty intense sometimes, but it’s a lot of fun! This year wasn’t my first year, however – I’ve been a part of the Readers Cup every year since I was in Year 5.
In 2019, I was a part of the Year 5/6 team. We read five books and ended up placing fourth in the competition! There were some really good books that year and one of them has become a firm favourite, and I’m currently looking forward to the 4th book in that series. I read the ANZAC Violin by Jennifer Beck, Wombat Warriors by Samantha Wheeler, The Elephant by Peter Canarvas, The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan and Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend.
Out of the books that year, Nevermoor was my favourite, I’m still a huge fan of the series, and The ANZAC Violin. Interestingly, when I had to read The Ruins of Gorlan, I honestly hated it, and I couldn’t get into it. Recently though, on a friend’s recommendation (read: he was absolutely appalled I didn’t like it and insisted I reread it), I tried it again, and now I like it.
2020…Ah, what an interesting year that was. I was selected as part of the team, and I started reading the books, and then everyone’s favourite infectious disease shut down the competition. In 2021, we read How to Bee, by Bren MacDibble, Bindi, a verse novel by Kirli Saunders, The Fall by Tristan Bancks, Beetle Queen by M.G. Leonard, and Running on the Roof of the World, by Jess Butterworth. Out of those books, I think Running on the Roof of the World was my favourite, and I’d actually done an assignment on it the previous year. I didn’t like Beetle Queen though, because I found it frustrating that we had been given the second book in a series.
For the Year 8 Reader’s Cup competition in 2022, we read The Year the Maps Changed by Danielle Binks, Pony by R. J. Palacio, Dragon Skin by Karen Foxlee, The Fire Star by Allison Tait and Across the Risen Sea, by Bren MacDibble. That year, I think my favourite was Dragon Skin – it’s a book about a girl in rural Queensland who finds a dying baby dragon at the waterhole one evening, and her quest to save it.
Last year, for the 2023 Grade 9/10 Competition, I read Green Rising, by Lauren James, The Stand in by Allison Rushby, I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys and We Who Hunt the Hollow by Kate Murray. I think my favourite, I Must Betray You, was about a teenage boy in communist Romania and his involvement in the rebellion.
Finally,2024. This year, I was a part of the Readers Cup Team for the last time. I had a few favourites this year. I absolutely loved Inkflower by Suzy Zail, and Grace Notes by Karen Comer, which I found out just after the competition won the 2024 CBCA Book of the Year. These were both amazing books, I was crying at parts and they were just beautiful. We also read Hamlet is Not Ok, by R.A Spratt. I’m a huge R.A. Spratt fan, and I’ve been obsessed with Nanny Piggins and Friday Barnes for as long as I can remember. I did like Hamlet is Not Ok, but I still think I prefer her other books. Everyone else in the team and at the competition loved Eleanor Jones is Not a Murderer, but I couldn’t get into it.
Sadly, Reader’s Cup Competitions finish in Year 10, meaning this year was my last competition. I’ve loved every year of it, and if anyone’s ever considering trying out for the team – do it. You’ll get to read some amazing books and have a lot of fun, and overall, it’s just an awesome challenge!
Isabella Buckland, Year 10 Student