A haunt of book-lovers

This scary pair had an innovative way of encouraging Queenstown people to part with their money at St Joseph's School's annual book fair yesterday.

Hershey Avila (left) and Lara Gutierrez (both 12) and their classmates created a ''haunted room'' stall.

Anyone game enough could exchange pennies for Halloween-themed lollies and a tour of the scary room, which had spiders, cobwebs, eyeballs, clowns and toy dolls.

Hershey said quite a few people ''really screamed'' when they walked in.

As well as traditional book stalls, there was a chocolate wheel and silent auction. School PTA treasurer Gavin Bartlett said more than $23,000 was raised, which would be used to buy computer tablets and books for the school's library.

''There were a lot of people there and the turnout was good, which was helped by the weather,'' he said.