STUDENTS at Warwick Central State School had a visit from a very special guest last Wednesday.

A giant "reading bug egg", discovered by Hermitage farmer Patrick McConville, was carefully delivered to the school assembly by tractor in August.

Since then students have been reading to the egg while it "incubated" in the school library.

The school ran a drawing competition to see what students thought might emerge from the egg, encouraging students to get creative with their designs.

From more than 270 entries, Year 3 student Jazmin Dromgold's design for "Catafluta" was crowned the winning design.

On Wednesday Norm Betts from Betta Built Kitchens loaded the egg on to his truck to be taken away.

Much to his surprise, the egg decided to hatch and "Catafluta" (or Reading Bug) came to life, emerging from behind the truck.

Bug thanked the many students, teachers, parents and guests who had read to the egg while in incubation.

The reading bug program is a partnership between Red Cross and Warwick Central State School.

Principal Christine Dolly was full of praise for Red Cross worker Jo McKinnon who drove the project over the 10 weeks.

"The kids loved it - It was great to see both the staff and the kids really get behind it," she said.

"Jo has done such a fantastic job."

Mrs McKinnon had a run a similar program in Brisbane and was delighted to bring the idea to Warwick.

"It's really crucial for children to have a love of reading both for learning and development," she said

"The number of kids taking part in the program was priceless, I was so happy to see the excitement on the kids' faces.

"We wanted to promote a love of reading and I think it's worked really well."

As part of the 10-week reading program parents and special guests have been brought in each week to read with the students and encourage the children to discover a love of reading.

Principal Dolly thanked all those involved and wished a special thank you to Norm Betts, Penny and Tess King for their support for the project.