A GROUP of avid readers from a Chester-le-Street school are to judge work entered into a children's book competition.

The Carnegie Medal has been in existence for nearly 70 years and is Britain's oldest children's book award.

The Shadowing Scheme invites youngsters to read the short-listed books, assess them by the same criteria as the judges and share their views with other reading groups via the Internet.

The students are aiming to read as many of the six short-listed books as possible before the end of this month.

Their current favourite is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon - closely followed by The Fire Eaters by David Almond.

The Fire Eaters is already winner of the Smarties Book Prize Gold Award and the 2003 Whitbread Children's Book Award.

The other books listed are The Garbage King by Elizabeth Laird, Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo, and Sisterland by Linda Newbery.

For more information contact Lynda Robertson at The Hermitage School on 0191-388 7161 or visit the www.carnegie greenaway.org.uk website.