Al-Sadiq and Al-Zahra School pupil completes 101 books

A pupil who ploughed his way through an impressive 101 books has won the regional finals of a national reading competition.

Ali Mesbahi, 11, who attends Al-Sadiq and Al-Zahra School in Queen’s Park, was the winner of the award for the ‘most books read’ in the London heats of the inaugural Read for My School competition.

Across the capital, 140 schools took part in Read for My School, with pupils logging nearly 46,000 books on the competition website.

Sukaina Gulamhusein, Ali’s teacher at the school, in Salusbury Road, said:

“As a school, we are extremely proud for one of our pupils to have won. Ali was totally engaged with the competition as he had a huge range of books at his fingertips.

“The easy accessibility at no cost was a definite factor in him getting totally involved and reading the high number of books that he did.

“His love for reading has been increased.”

Ali was crowned at an award ceremony organised by The Pearson Foundation and Booktrust at Waterstones bookshop in Piccadilly last week (22).

Fellow Al-Sadiq and Al-Zahra pupil, 10-year-old Saba Raza was also at the event to pick up the award for the ‘most interesting written responses to books read’ in London.

The winners of the regional heats will be entered into the running to win the two national awards, due to be presented on June 18.