A group of 17 students at a city school have been rewarded for reading a variety of genres and completing almost 1,000 books between them.
Pupils at The Bemrose School, in Uttoxeter New Road, were invited to take part in a reading challenge by their librarian and the 17 bookworms were rewarded with vouchers after collectively notching up 927 books.
The Book Busters competition invited pupils to read six different book genres and at least 15 books since the start of the school year in September.
Fifteen-year-old Mazia Fatima read an astonishing 94 books and says the Jacqueline Wilson Hetty Feather series was her favourite.
She said: “I love reading, it makes you feel out of this world. I love that you can escape within the pages of a book and you can go literally anywhere. Whenever I have free time I pick up my book. I enjoy it more than the TV.
17 pupils at Bemrose School have read almost 1000 books between them since September.
“I belong to the school reading club and everyone begs me not to tell them the ending of the book because I’ve usually finished before everyone else.”
Isshaaq Sadiq, 13, clocked up 47 books during the challenge including the epic Lord of the Rings trilogy and Herman Melville’s mammoth Moby Dick – which is a whopping 378 pages long.
He said: “I mainly read at home and enjoy really big adventures which is why I liked Tolkien and Moby Dick. They are definitely big books and gave me arm ache a bit, but they were worth it.”
Eleven-year-old Fatimah Ali read 41 books from The Bemrose School library, but the avid reader was quick to point out that she was also a regular borrower from Derby City Library.
She said: “You can take 10 books out at a time from Derby City Libraries so I am a regular visitor; I like that they are so peaceful. My favourite author is Jacqueline Wilson, especially the Dork Diaries series.
“We had to read all sorts of books for this challenge and I wasn’t keen on the horror book as I was worried it would give me nightmares. I love fantasy books though – they are definitely my favourite genre.”
Bemrose bookworms with headteacher Neil Wilkinson.
Executive headteacher Neil Wilkinson congratulated the students and told them that recent research demonstrated that someone who is good at reading is likely to be good at maths, but not necessarily the other way round.
He said: “Reading helps students with every element of life and if the latest research is correct the pupils who have thrived during this challenge should expect to get good marks in both English and maths GCSE – meaning they are the complete package.
“Reading is vital for almost everything we do in life and our librarian does a brilliant job of thinking creatively to get new readers hooked and encouraging regular readers to challenge themselves with different genres.”
ENDS/
For further information please contact Sarah Newton at Penguin PR on 07974 502 764 or email sarah@penguinpr.co.uk
