GOMELDON Primary School is to receive £5,000 worth of books after coming second in a World Book Day competition involving schools from across the UK.

The school scooped the runners-up prize after impressing judges with its response to the statement ‘Why we can’t live without books’.

Its entry, entitled A Library is a Hospital for the Mind, was inspired by a quote from the American writer and futurist author Alvin Toffler.

Teacher Clare Ingram said: “Our entry was created by a group of just six children who worked on our medicine-bottle-type entry, aged between six and eight-years-old.

“I invited the children to come in during their lunch playtime, not sure if they would – but sure enough, they all came trickling back in to work hard on their writing and colouring.

“Because we are a small rural primary school, with about 150 children on roll, the lovely thing is that every child gets to really know and navigate our little library.

“We're going to spend the money on a range of books to appeal to a wider range of readers – so that the ‘reading for pleasure’ bug really reaches as many children as possible.”

Judges for the inaugural World Book Day Award (WoBoD) were headed by bestselling author James Patterson, who has donated £50,000 of his own money to fund the prize for two years.

He said his donation was prompted by the clear and present danger facing libraries.

“Libraries are shutting their doors left and right. I firmly believe that every child needs access to a school library, which is why I’m supporting WoBoD: they encourage a love of reading in our children that we can’t afford to lose. Reading is one of the building blocks of life and can take you to another world. It encourages imagination and helps with education.”

Hexthorpe Primary School in Doncaster won first prize, winning £10,000 worth of books.

According to the rules of the award, the prize money must be spent in local bookshops and Gomeldon School said it would be Salisbury Waterstones.