World Book Day Winners ....

In our penultimate post of this term, we're bringing you not just the answers to the final Shelfie quiz, the Heads-of-House Head-to-Heads, but also the answers to the Kayton Library's 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' quiz AND - even more importantly - revealing who won those Nando's vouchers ...

If we were presenting the results of the final Shelfie quiz in the form of a House Points table, it would look something like this: 

A slender but decisive margin of victory for Gill House, thanks to some clever clues (politics, definitely - but also Spanish, feminism and - of course - that tell-tale coffee mug). 

Fantastic results too for Blurton and Warner House, with their respective collections of sports science and literature, followed by a convincing fourth place for Field House (the rowing cups and medals were hints well taken) and fifth for Harrison, with probably the most diverse range of books on display - from Shakespeare to Eva Schloss, by way of Pushkin and Nadiya Hussein - and a solid core of Wisden.  

In sixth place Gilks House - from modern fiction to model cars (and dinosaurs); in seventh Cloete - Mr Stewart's mixture of politics, history and fiction clearly bamboozled a few of you, who were convinced this must be Gill; and last, despite the presence of Swedish Traditions, Nilsson.  

There may not be any House points awarded for this, but huge thanks to all those of you who took part, and especially to the Heads of House for nobly volunteering their shelfies. 

And now to one of the undoubted highlights of SPS's World Book Week: Mrs Wilkinson reports on the Kayton Library's 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' quiz: 12 clue-adorned settings for 12 literary dinner guests - but who???? Read on to find out ...

Many conversations were held outside the library about who the guests were. Some agonized over who the purple cloak belonged to and what on earth were the silver bars! (not huge Kitkats). Visiting guests (clockwise, from top right) were: 

Guest 1 - Clue: not an actual scythe (er, safeguarding!) but a purple cloak and ring

Answer: Scythe Curie from Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Guest 2 - Clue: an axe - and three blonde hairs (remember, Galadriel gives them to him? No, us neither!)

Answer: Gimli from The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien

Guest 3 - Clue: the letter A (more orange than red, grumbled some of you)

Answer: Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Guest 4 - Clue: one apple, two pears, three plums ...

Answer (of course): The Caterpillar from The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Guest 5 - Clue: a blue notebook ...

Answer (a definite bonus for Carnegie Shadowers): Dylan from The Blue Book of Nebo by Manon Steffan Ros

Guest 6  - Clue: some snazzy yellow stockings - with garters

Answer: this was easy - Malvolio from Twelfth Night. By Shakespeare. 

Guest 7 – Clue: a gossip column from Bayview High, and a cup poisoned with peanut oil 

Answer: Simon from One of Us is Lying by Karen M McManus

Guest 8 – Clue: a big stone. Some tools. 

This one stumped almost everyone. The answer is Jude Fawley - the stonemason who dreams of becoming a student, from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. When we consider the other props this novel might have generated, we think you got off lightly ...

Guest 9 – Clue: a garden fork. Some earth. Thankfully, no dead poodles ...

Answer: Christopher Boone from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Guest 10 – Clue: a bunsen burner, a flask, a burette - and some perfectly brewed coffee ...

Answer: Elizabeth Zott from Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. Science. Cookery. Feminism. Rowing. And one of the most endearing dogs in modern fiction. 

Guest 11 – Clue: a towel.

Answer: Ford Prefect from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, subject of one of Mrs Cummings’ favourite quotes: 'that hoopy Ford Prefect? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is.'  And so, indeed, did most of you.  

Guest 12 – Clue: A dictionary. Some silver bars. NOT Kitkats ...

Answer: Robin Swift from Babel by R F Kuang. You knew Mrs Cummings' 2023 book of the year was going to feature somewhere, right?

So - a pretty fiendish quiz (definitely harder than last year's). Huge thanks to Mr Staniforth and the Drama Dept for arranging the props, and to Mr Smith for supplying the Elizabeth Zott-style coffee maker.  Thanks also, of course, to all those of you who took part. The clear winner was (drum roll ...)

... Theo Frankel with Enyu Hu being the runner up: congratulations to both of you! 

Huge thanks to the librarians, not just for this fantastic quiz, but for papering the school with such an amazing array of posters celebrating the books people loved as a child, aspire to read, would rescue from burning buildings, or simply hurl into the nearest bin. We hope you enjoyed all this year's World Book Day related events, and roll on next year's ... !