Whitworth bookworms help to decide Lancashire Book of the Year

Eve Butterworth-Bennion, Meeral Kamran and Ben Badham with Year 10 student Jorga Slicker

Scores of books, hundreds of chapters and thousands of words will be devoured by students at Whitworth Community High School.

The school is taking part in the Lancashire Book of the Year competition and a team of 20 students from Years 8 and 9 have been tasked with reading and reviewing the entries.

Eve Butterworth-Bennion, 12, said: “Our teacher asked if we wanted to be involved with the Book of the Year and because I like reading it was a chance to try some new books.

“We have been given 16 books and they have been shared out among the group.

“My first book was ‘Island at the End of Everything’ which is on a religious theme. I have read it already and reviewed it, but I didn’t really like it.”

The reviewers are being assisted by Year 10 students Jorga Slicker and Jasmine Somerwill, who were on the team the previous year.

Jorga, 14, said: “I enjoyed being on the Book of the Year team because I enjoy reading and it made you read different types of books.

“As one of the leaders, I make sure the new group knows what they have to do. Once they have read their book, or got as far as they can through it, they write a review and give it a star rating.”

Meeral Kamran, 13, said: “I really enjoy reading and I am about halfway through my book of ‘Scorched’.”

Ben Badham, 13, is currently reading ‘Wing Jones’ and said he joined the group because he wanted to improve the speed at which he read.

The team will get different selections of books to read before a final shortlist of 10 is drawn up. Each team across the county will then read and review the top 10 before selecting their favourite.

The winner is announced towards the end of the school year at a special presentation event at County Hall in Preston.

It is the longest running young people's regional book award in the country and remains one of the few book awards in which young people themselves are solely responsible for choosing both the shortlist and the overall winning book.