It was Hamish who suggested they needed something different to set off the book challenge, and last week the students came to school dressed as a book character to start a new term.
Hamish, who likes fishing and hunting, took his inspiration from the book and came dressed for the outdoors.
Mrs Orme-Whitlock, he said, set the students' goals high and with the book challenge, increased their literacy.
"We had to do something to get the kids reading books, and it spread throughout the school," Mrs Orme-Whitlock said.
Jemma Barnes, also Year 8, is reading Fleur Beale's Speed Freak, and was dressed in her mini-stocks racing gear.
The book is about a go-cart driver named Archie and set in Palmerston North.
Jemma, whose hobby is driving mini-stock cars, says reading helps her imagination, and she has set herself the challenge to read 25 books this term.
Mrs Orme-Whitlock said she entered the students' progress on a graph which they expected to be updated regularly.
The graph brought in maths, and in every lesson the students learned how reading was used in each subject like humanities and sciences, she said.
"Reading produces confident and competent readers, and someone who likes the act of reading."
The students also suggested books for their peers to read.
Megan Orme-Whitlock's blog: http://stgeorgesreaders.wordpress.com/2014/01/16/nz-rugby-world-issue-164-it-really-is-reading/