A SCHOOLBOY whose parents have set his alarm clock to stop him reading into the night has been made children’s librarian for his village.

Ten-year-old Harry McMurray, who is a pupil at Helmsley Primary School, was appointed to the role at Cold Kirby village hall by Barbara Newman who runs the Bookmark project.

She said: “Harry loves books and he’s very good with the other children in the village. He comes down after school and he chooses the books for them and reads to the little ones.

“He has also inspired other children who visit the village to come to the library. Harry’s a real character and he’s very pleasant with it. He’ll have a conversation with anybody. He’s a real asset to the village and the library.”

Harry’s love of reading has also translated into a writing career, and he recently won silver in the 500 words short story competition on Radio 2, run by Chris Evans, coming second out of 90,000 entries.

Harry’s mum Becky took him to the Hay-on-Wye Festival with his dad Robert to receive his award for his short story “Making Mum and Dad” which came second in the 10-13 age category, and saw Harry interviewed by the celebrity DJ.

Becky said: “We were over the moon about it. Harry has read so many books, in fact we have set up the alarm to stop him reading into the night. He spends all his pocket money on books and he loves going down to the library and sharing books with the younger ones.

“He likes the Skullduggery Pleasant series, and adventure and horror books by Darren Shan.

“He’s read the Harry Potter books about five times to himself, they are firm favourites.”

Harry said he enjoyed using the library as a way to meet people, but most of his reading was done at home.

He said: “It is a nice place although there is so much friendliness going round it’s hard to read.”

Bookmark is run at the village hall every other Wednesday between 2pm and 4pm, and supported by North Yorkshire County Council.

County councillor Chris Metcalfe, executive member for libraries, said: “Harry is a great ambassador for reading and Bookmark is a great community venture for Cold Kirby. Books get people talking and it’s wonderful to see children taking a lead.”