AS bookworms go, this Hampshire schoolboy must be top of the pile.

Dean Janse van Rensburg, from Warsash, has leafed his way through more than 80 books – or 2,232,942 words – in his first term at secondary school.

Now the bookish 12-year-old pupil from The Henry Cort Community College in Fareham is well on the way to beating his goal of reading more than three million words by half-term.

Dean, who has Asperger’s syndrome, typically takes out three or four books per week from the school library.

He said: “I enjoy reading as it takes me away from the real world and it sparks my imagination.”

Mother Sherry, 33, a veterinary nurse, and father Cornelis, 45, an energy surveyor, have both been amazed at Dean’s progress.

Sherry said: “I am so proud of Dean. He is an avid reader and is totally devoted to books.”

While at his infant school he devoured no less than 37 books and during his time at Locks Heath Junior School he had read his way through more than 200 titles.