AN INCREDIBLE £10,850 has been raised by Haslingden High School students to buy books for poorly children in hospital.
The school has taken part in 12 Read for Good challenges since 1995 and this year the nine students raised more than £400 with one student, George Taylor, contributing £110.
George, 12, is dyslexic, making the reading challenge even more tricky for him.
He said: “It is really hard for me to read books but the Girl Missing is actually quite good. It is about a girl who spots a missing poster, then researches it and finds that someone has reported her missing.
“I have raised lots for charities including homeless charities, the food bank and I took part in the Cancer Research Relay for Life running laps around Marl Pits track.”
Teacher and School Librarian Yasmine Choudry said: “For a dyslexic student to take part in a reading challenge is a fabulous thing.
“It is a wonderful charity to support because they take books into hospitals for children that are very poorly and we know the value of having a book that you don’t have to give back, but can keep and treasure.”
Chief Executive of Reading for Good Justine Daniels said Haslingden High School had been one of the best participants in the challenge.
She said: “Only a handful of schools have embraced it like yours. This is a truly remarkable achievement we believe should be celebrated.”
Grace Barnett and Melissa Nihat, both 13, read books from the same Murder Most Unladylike series by Robin Stevens.
Grace said: “We could choose what we wanted to read and I picked one I could read online – Death Sets Sail. It is about two detectives on a boat on The Nile and someone gets murdered.
“I have read the other eight books in the series and this had all the main characters from the other books in it and it had a very good ending, not one I could work out.”
Melisa selected Once Upon a Crime, which has a series of short stories, and said she enjoyed it because of the different characters.
She said: “There were some quite interesting scenarios and my favourite one was The Case of the Missing Treasure.
Eva Smith, also 13, selected JRR Tolkien’s classic Lord of the Rings and said she preferred the book because it had lots of songs in it and she enjoyed the film for its scenery.
Mrs Choudry added: “What I love about our children is their charity and big heartedness. Our students really value reading.”