A HANLEY Castle High School pupil looks set to further bolster the school's reputation for producing literary stars after winning a national competition.

Gabbi Freemantle, aged 14, was one of ten winners in The Guardian Young Critics competition.

Participants were asked to write a 200-word review of one of eight books listed in the newspaper's Children's Fiction prize.

Gabbi reviewed The Last Train from Kummersdorf, by Leslie Wilson.

"I found I could really relate to Effie, the heroine, even though her world is so different to mine. She is capable of lying and cheating as well as eliciting the sympathy of the reader," she wrote.

Gabbi said the first she heard of her success was when it was announced in a school assembly.

"It was good, but it was in front of my whole year, so it was a bit embarrassing," she said.

She was presented with the eight listed books as a prize and has donated them to the school library.

Gabbi said her mum had persuaded her to enter the competition.

"My mum's an English teacher so she pushed me to do it, but I enjoy doing stuff like that.

"I read a lot of animal books because I have a horse, but I like everything," she said.

The teenager said she would probably study English at A'Level and hoped to become an author when she was older.

Head of English, Bill Nicholson, said: "She is quite a special talent and I hope she will continue with what she's set about doing here.

"I think the world is her oyster."

The school's former pupils include David Mitchell, who narrowly missed out on winning this year's Booker Prize for his novel Cloud Atlas, and P H Newby, whose novel Something to Answer For won the prestigious prize when it was launched in 1969.