Main libraries and reading update 2007

2006
2005
2004
2003 and earlier

Narnia voted top children’s book

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the best children's book of all time, according to a new survey from Booktrust. The Very Hungry Caterpillar came in second, with Enid Blyton's Famous Five series in third.

The poll of 4,000 people was conducted by Booktrust to support its Bookstart initiative, which gives free books to children in the UK. The best loved author was Roald Dahl, who had six books in the top 50, followed by Blyton with five and Julia Donaldson with four. The poll also showed that four out of five parents read their children a bedtime story every night, for an average of 22 minutes a time.

(Bookseller, 21 February 2008)

(The Bookseller, 18 January 2008)

Nestle Children’s Book Prize winners
The Nestle Children’s Book Prize shortlist and winners for 2007 are:

5 years and under:

• Winner: When a Monster is Born by Sean Taylor and Nick Sharrat
• Runners up:
  Penguin by Polly Dunbar
  Dexter Bexley and the Big Blue Beastie by Joel Stewart

6 - 8 years:

• Winner: Ottoline and the Yellow Cat by Chris Riddell
• Runners up:
  Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears by Emily Gravett
  Ivan the Terrible by Anne Fine

9 – 11 years:

• Winner: Here Lies Arthur by Philip Reeve
• Runners up:
  Catcall by Linda Newberry
  Shadow Forest by Matt Haig

(Nestle Children’s Book Prize, 12 December 2007)

Quick Reads initiative to continue

The Bookseller has reported that Quick Reads will be continued for a further three years thanks to a unanimous vote from the industry steering committee. The committee told the Bookseller it was “clear that emergent readers and practitioners are finding these books so useful”.

(Bookseller, 13 April 2007)

Children's Party at the Palace 'Literary Long Weekend'

On Sunday 25 June, as part of the Queen’s 80th birthday celebrations, Buckingham Palace will celebrate children’s literature by inviting favourite story book characters to a special tea party and live show in the garden of Buckingham Palace. The event will be attended by 2,000 children and the show will be broadcast live by the BBC at 6pm that day.

Buckingham Palace, with the support of the Department for Education and Skills, the National Literacy Trust and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport are encouraging schools, libraries and children's centres to offer activities focusing on children’s literature in the three days leading up to the live show on Sunday 25 June, creating a 'Literary Long Weekend'.

The objective of the Literary Long Weekend is to promote reading and books, using the Children’s Party at the Palace as the catalyst; and to encourage schools and others to create fun and imaginative activities for 'Bringing Children’s Literature to Life in the Community'. Suggested activities include: live story telling sessions; encouraging family members to promote the enjoyment of reading; guest authors reading from their books; encouraging children to write a story or poem around a specific theme; themed parties, with children dressed as their favourite storybook character.

For more information visit: www.childrenspartyatthepalace.com
For resources, ideas and activities to help your celebration visit: www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/party

Reading beats TV in popularity stakes

The death of reading has been prematurely reported according to a BBC RaW survey. It suggests that reading is an important activity for 79% of us, beating TV (67%), computer games (15%), gardening (49%) - and even sex (69%) - in the popularity stakes.

Interviews with 4,000 adults suggest that reading is paramount in people's lives. Overall the results show that, across the UK, picking up a book or a newspaper is in the top three activities - alongside listening to music and spending time with friends and family. However, although 82% of the population say they enjoy their reading, there is still a significant 17% of adults surveyed who say they do not.

Liz Cleaver, Controller of BBC Learning and Interactive, says: "'This survey shows how much everyone can get from reading but also highlights that there are around one in five adults who don't make time to read. RaW wants to inspire these people to enjoy reading in a way that's relevant to them.

The RaW survey was conducted as part of the second phase of RaW (Reading and Writing), the BBC's biggest ever literacy campaign. The survey was conducted via face-to-face interviews with 4,000 adults - representing a cross section of the UK population - by TNS (Taylor Nelson Sofres) on behalf of BBC Audience Research.

For more information visit www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases

(www.bbc.co.uk, 1 March 2006)

Fairytale party with the Queen

They changed guard at Buckingham Palace with Postman Pat, Noddy, Paddington Bear, the Snowman, Mary Poppins and a colourful cast of other storybook favourites processing across its terrace. In one of the more surreal events hosted at the illustrious address, human incarnations of some of Britain's best-loved children's literary characters were seconded to help launch the Children's Party at the Palace, being held to celebrate the Queen's 80th birthday.

The theme is a celebration of British children's literature, its aim to encourage more children to read. Two thousand children, between four and 14, will be invited, their names chosen from a ballot. The party will be televised live on the BBC and winners will meet J.K.Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books, as well as the boy wizard himself in the form of the actor Daniel Radcliffe.

The highlight will be a show bringing together figures played by celebrities yet to be announced, but whose star will be the model Sophie Dahl, granddaughter of the author Roald Dahl, who will play herself as depicted in Dahl's BFG - Big Friendly Giant.

Chris Meade, the director of the charity Booktrust, said: "It seems a fantastic way of putting literature on the radar of young people."

Applications for tickets can be made by logging onto www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc , or you can apply by postcard to Children's Party at the Palace, PO Box 80, London SW1P 9AU (closing date 28 February 2006).

(Telegraph, 2 February 2006)

Boring books 'stop pupils reading'

Millions of children are in danger of falling behind in reading because they are given boring and repetitive books in school, an expert has warned. Dr Jonathan Solity, lecturer in educational psychology at Warwick University, said pupils become trapped in 'uninspiring' reading schemes such as the Oxford Reading Tree, which is used in four out of five primaries.

They are often forced to study set texts repeatedly until they are judged ready to move on. He said children should be taught to read using time-honoured favourites such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Tiger Who Came To Tea.

His research suggests that those with access to these 'real' books often forge ahead of their peers. Dr Solity told an educational and child psychology conference in Bournemouth, the reading schemes were failing to instil a passion for books. Many teachers concentrate on the series of texts, which follow the same character in stories of increasing difficulty. But pupils who struggle to read can get stuck on one level.

According to Solity, "Children need to see words in context and in a diverse range of contexts. The problem with reading schemes is that children only see one way of using a word which may be repeated or rhymed." The research studied 2,500 children, aged seven and eight in 16 schools in southern England. A core group of 800 seven-year-olds were primarily given ordinary books in English lessons. These children ended up five to six months ahead of the other pupils, including some eight-year-olds, in terms of reading comprehension.

About 80% of schools use the Oxford Reading Tree, which follows the national curriculum but is not endorsed by the Department for Education and Skills.

(Daily Mail, 5 January 2006)

Favourite books for children, by adults

Enid Blyton, who was called "the 20th century Mother Goose", still reigns supreme in the 21st century. Adults voted her Famous Five series as their favourite books for children. The series, which started 63 years ago, beat friendly lions, hobbits, wizards and big friendly giants. It narrowly pipped Chronicles of Narnia to win first place despite the boost given to C.S. Lewis's stories by the 2005 film.

The Famous Five are a group of clean-living, well brought-up middle class children who take pride in being "jolly good sports". Their adventures, fuelled by their inexhaustible addiction to ginger beer, lemonade and sandwiches ("Oh goody, cucumber," said George), were dismissed as hopelessly outdated and irrelevant by librarians and others in the 1970s.

They triumphed in a YouGov poll of 2,688 adults commissioned to launch a drive by the National Literacy Trust, sponsored by Starbucks, to get 50,000 books for schools donated to Starbucks stores.

A second title by Blyton, The Faraway Tree, came third, followed by Tolkien's The Hobbit and Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Blyton also took 16th and 17th place in the top 20 with the Secret Seven adventure series and the Malory Towers girls' school series.

YouGov's sample included 759 people aged between 18 and 29 and 708 over-50s, some of whom will have been child readers when the first Famous Five book, Five on a Treasure Island was published in 1942.

The top ten books:

1. Famous Five
   
2. Chronicles of Narnia
   
3. The Faraway Tree
   
4. The Hobbit
   
5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
   
6. Black Beauty
   
7. Treasure Island
   
8. Biggles
   
9. Swallows and Amazons
   
10. Lord of the Rings

(Guardian, 21 December 2005)

The winners of the Baby book award were announced in October 2005:

• Baby Book Award Poppy Cat's Farm by Lara Jones (Campbell Books)
• Pre School Award The Very Dizzy Dinosaur by Jack Tickle (Little Tiger Press)
• Best New Illustrator The Fantastic Mr Wani by Kanako Usui (Little Tiger Press)

(Booktrust, October 2005)

The programme, conceived by Anna Home and Molly Cox, began in December 1965 with Lee Montague reading Cap of Rushes. The simplicity of the format - a celebrity presenter reading extracts from a book over the course of five daily episodes - remained unchanged for the almost 3,500 episodes that followed.

Soon after the series started, illustrators including Quentin Blake were commissioned to provide a visual accompaniment to the storytelling, typically delivered straight to camera from a location designed in some way to reflect the action. Every programme would end on a cliffhanger, with viewers urged to tune in the next day.

(Guardian, 4 July 2005)

A website, Meet the Author, has been started that contains 450 online interviews with authors who have described their own novels in 600 half-minute video clips. The authors on the site include Jacqueline Wilson, Philip Pullman and Dave Pelzer. The founder of the site, David Freeman, has said: "I've always thought it would be wonderful to hear what the Brontes sounded like, or to speak to Charles Dickens. It takes away the fear of reading if you can see the author. You see that this person is not an alien, but someone you can empathise with."

Jacqueline Wilson, who is on the site summarising three of her recent children's books, said: "We've moved on from looking at the author's photograph on the dust-jacket. This is something for modern times. Often the author is just a vague name on the spine. It's fun to see what hairstyles they have, or if they have warts on their noses."

The website is at www.meettheauthor.co.uk and the founder, David Freeman would welcome suggestions from teachers: david@meettheauthor.com.

(TES, 29 April 2005)

If you have details of any projects/initiatives that you would like to be listed on the database, you can submit details by using the online form at www.uce.ac.uk or by emailing ebase@uce.ac.uk with details.

View the database at www.encompassculture.com/readinggroups/reading_uk/.
(April 2005)

National Science Week book list

Tower Hamlets Library Service has compiled a booklist to mark National Science Week (11-20th March). The list can be found in the resources section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science
www.the-ba.net/the-ba/Events/NSEW/GetInvolved/NSEWResources/nsewbooklist.htm

(10 March 2005)

Audio books have shaken of their image as something to listen to when you're ill in bed. The MP3 generation is driving a revolution in stories that can be enjoyed on the go. The MP3 audio book is not new: it has been around for as long as the technology that it uses. Apple launched its own download facility, iBooks, at around the time that it launched iTunes, and entire websites are now devoted to downloading books on the web. What is new is the way that the staggering growth of audio cassette books in recent years has combined with new advances in technology to place the humble audio book at the forefront of new developments in the mainstream publishing industry.

Pandora White, manager of Orion Audio Books, thinks excitement over MP3 is premature. "It is on every publisher's wishlist to convert the audio catalogue onto MP3 because it means you will have one book on one disc, rather than on two or three," she says. "It also means there is space to record novels unabridged. But in reality, not many people have the facility to play it. Audio books are particularly popular for long car journeys, but even today, 50% of cars still only have tape machines. The idea of the MP3 format being marketed on a mass scale is years away."

She accepts, however, that the seismic shift in the image of audio books, sales of which, she confirms, have been growing at twice the rate of printed books, complements the image of the download. She emphasises, too, that an audio book is an event in the way an ordinary novel is not. "Audio books are entertainment," she says. "It's a form of performance, you have top-rate actors reading them, and the package can include extra features such as author interviews etc. This sort of package is increasingly what consumers are coming to expect."

Top MP3 Audio Books:
1. Pompeii, Robert Harris
2. Northern Lights, Philip Pullman
3. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
4. Fever Pitch, Nick Hornby
5. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
6. The Lost Continent, Philip Pullman
7. The Amber Spyglass, Philip Pullman
8. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
9. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
10. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
(Source: Waterstones)

(Independent, 24 February 2005)

Small Island, Andrea Levy's affectionate, Orange prize-winning comedy of errors, misunderstandings and prejudice at the onset of West Indian immigration to Britain, has been voted Whitbread Book of the Year 2004.

Its double victory - unique in book awards - brought joy to its author, born on a north London council estate to Jamaican parents who arrived in 1948, and to all those who feel that the experience merits recognition as a rich phase in the history of both small and larger islands. It marks a long hoped-for watershed in which, as she said in a recent Guardian article, "some of the bestselling books in this country have come from authors who would once have been seen as 'minority interest' and have now gone on to become publishing gold."

(Guardian, 26 January 2005)

The growth rate for sales of European books has ranged from minus to plus 1% in the past five years, according to the consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers, hardly the sort of heady expansion that makes financial hearts flutter. Even gross domestic product has managed to outpace that sort of increase. Despite this, there is a surprisingly upbeat mood in the business, even as it undergoes dramatic change. Several entrants, from online booksellers to discount catalogues and supermarkets, have led to more activity and price competition than the industry has seen for years.

Christmas is a crucial time for the book industry, with 17% of annual sales made in December. This Christmas, booksellers reacted to a flat market overall with huge discounts on a few blockbusters. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the discounts helped shift stock, albeit at the expense of margins
Such competition led to an average selling price of all books one week in December 2004 of £8.07 - 23p lower than the corresponding week in 2003, according to the Bookseller magazine.
The strategy at Waterstone's, which is part of the HMV group, is to entice readers into the shops to get them to pay for other, non-discounted titles. Half the book chain's sales come from titles that rank below 5,000 in the charts, according to its spokesman, Paul Barker.

(Guardian, 6 January 2004)

(TES, 13 August 2004)

The US-based National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has carried out a major survey on book reading in the United States, based on a sample size of more than 17,000 adults from all the major demographic groups. It follows similar surveys carried out in 1982 and 1992. Reading At Risk, the study based on the new survey, paints a grim picture. It shows the reading of literature is declining among all groups of all ages and that "the rate of decline has accelerated, especially among the young". Over the past 20 years, the proportion of Americans aged 18 to 34 who read literature has fallen by 28%. Having been the age group most likely to read literature, this is now the group least likely to pick up a novel. Overall, less than half the adult American population now reads literature, a 10% decline since 1982. in the past decade the proportion of US adults reading any books has declined by 7%. The study suggests that the higher the education level, the higher the reading rate of people. Those with a college degree are about 75% more likely to read literature than the rest of the public.

Given the greater - and rising - level of participation in higher education in the US, one could expect an increase in the rate of book reading. However, that is not the case. Indeed, the decline of reading among university graduates during the past two decades (15.4%) follows the pattern that prevails throughout society. Reading At Risk appears to suggest that the decline of the book may be linked to the growth of electronic media. It could be argued that the decline in both the US and the UK is the outcome of a cultural and educational climate that does not accord books the respect they deserve.

This development is particularly striking in higher education. Handing out short articles or notes during a lecture is now mandatory in many institutions. Academics are often expected to distribute their lecture notes to students or to place them on the department's website. Not expecting students to read whole books is now equated with "best practice". Yet reading books constitutes a central dimension of a truly educated society. Books are important in their own right. But book reading also contributes to the flourishing of a civilised society. As the NEA study indicates, readers play an active role in their communities. The decline of the book affects participation in the arts, "as well as social activities such as volunteerism, philanthropy, and even political engagement". That is why the book is a cause well worth fighting for.

Frank Furedi
(Telegraph, 11 August 2004)

While Italians may head for the nearest kiosk in Rome or Milan intending to buy only their copy of La Repubblica or Corriere della Sera, increasingly they are also walking away with a novel, a volume of poetry or a comic strip. This is because of the common practice of bundling newspapers with books and charging a price which is higher than that for the newspaper alone, but typically below what people would pay if they bought just the book in a traditional store. The phenomenon has transformed Italy's newspaper kiosks into small bookshops, turned the Italian book market on its head, and given those newspapers involved the extra profits to invest in extended colour capacity at La Repubblica, and a relaunch in a new format for Corriere. "Books have now become an essential accessory for newspapers", says Francesco Cesati at Fieg, the Italian newspaper publishers association.

Add-on products are, by themselves, not new to the Italian newspaper market. In the 1990s when papers were competing to cover losses as advertising declined, Italian publishers held their cover prices but threw in incentives such as free CDs or part-work magazines to collect. Two years ago, however, the focus changed radically. The add-ons became high-quality books and the combined packages were priced at levels which increased, rather than ate into, newspapers' margins. La Repubblica, which sells about 630,000 copies a day, kicked off the trend, by offering a series of 20th century literary masterpieces. The first was given away free. Later books were sold at a discounted rate of E4.90, plus E0.90 for the newspaper.

The public's response exceeded all expectations, with an average of 500,000 copies of each of the 50 volumes sold - some 25m copies in total. Corriere, which outsells La Repubblica by a narrow 50,000 copies a day, responded with its own series.

The proliferation of kiosks - edicole - throughout Italy, the reduced VAT placed on the books sold through them (4% instead of 20%), and the reduced royalties that are paid out on these books created gross margins of typically 30% - considerably higher than average. Publishers were thus in a position to use their marketing clout to present the books as a clear value-add to readers. And readers could always still choose to buy just the newspaper at the usual cover price. Rosalba Rattalino, at Milan-based think tank Eurisko, says: "These promotions have managed to capture that big chunk of the Italian public who read very little, would never set foot in a bookshop or know how to choose a book."

La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera have launched collections that include comic strips and encyclopaedias, art, poetry, and history books. Other Italian nationals, including La Stampa, Il Messaggero and Il Giornale and a plethora of local newspapers have imitated the promotion.

(Financial Times, 3 August 2004)

Big Read gives classic book sales a big lift

Classics that have spent years languishing at the back of bookshops sold at up to 10 times their normal rate in 2003 thanks to the BBC's Big Read. The series boosted authors from Jane Austen to George Orwell by up to 85,000 copies per title.

The televised poll prompted viewers to buy 760,000 extra copies of the nation's favourite books, with 17 of the top 21 titles putting on sales. On the back of the BBC's success, Channel 4 is promoting books through Richard and Judy's Book Club.

Biggest increases in sales
1. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (up 955%)
2. Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell (up 576%)
3. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (up 410%)
4. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (up 394%)
5. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (up 392%)
6. Nineteen Eighty-four by George Orwell (up 361%)
7. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (up 258%)
8. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (up 269%)
9. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (up 115%)
10. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (up 102%)

(Times, 9 February 2004)

Scotland funds home reading

The Scottish Executive has made funding available for a small grants scheme that will provide start-up finance for sustainable local projects to improve children's literacy by promoting home reading. The funding has been allocated as part of the Scottish Executive's Home Reading Initiative, 'Read Together'. Schools and community groups can apply.

Visit www.scotland.gov.uk/pages/news/2004/01/SEED430a.aspx.

(NGfL Scotland, 30 January 2004)

To mark World Book Day on March 4, J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, is to take part in a one-hour online chat. Pupils across the country are invited to submit questions they would like Ms Rowling to answer and the 12 winning entries will be thrown at her during the online session.

World Book Day was launched last year, when online author conversations attracted participants from more than 60 countries. This year, the J. K. Rowling chat will open a series of internet discussions, held throughout the day. Participating authors include children's writer Jacqueline Wilson and poet Benjamin Zephaniah.

Sue Stewart, festival manager for World Book Day, hopes that these discussions will encourage pupils to see authors as fellow readers, rather than inaccessible celebrities. She said: "Writers aren't born out of fairy dust. They have a reading life, which evolves as they grow. We hope children will be inspired to read their favourite author's favourite book, and to broaden their reading horizons."

To find out more about World Book Day, see the website at www.worldbookday.com.

(TES, 5 December 2003)

Booksellers pledge to Get London Reading

London's booksellers have pledged to back a new week-long reading campaign in the city. Get London Reading Week, part of the Mayor of London's cultural strategy, will promote literature and reading to users of London's public transport system. Booktrust is working to launch the the first campaign to run from 23 to 27 February 2004.

The promotion will be focused on a list of 10 books, to be selected by Booktrust from submissions from publishers. The books, written by London authors or about London, will be selected to attract a diverse range of London readers.

The promotion will involve posters and advertising on buses, tubes and trains, as well as dislays of London-related titles in bookshops and libraries across the city. Participating retailers will arrange their own promotions around the umbrella theme, with supporting point of sale material.

(The Bookseller, 28 November 2003)

Bookcrossing hits Manchester

Books are to be left in taxis, on buses, in pubs and cafes and on park benches on Saturday 16 July 2003 with messages attached saying, "Look inside", "Read me" or "Take me home", just in case people think they are lost. Hundreds of books are to be released on to the streets as bookcrossing hits Manchester.
Bookcrossing is an American phenomenon, started in April 2001, that has taken off across the world. Almost half a million books have been "released" and there are more than 146,000 members worldwide. Books are left behind (released into the world) containing a unique identity number which is registered on www.bookcrossing.com.

When someone finds one, they can register on the site and track the journey it has taken before it reached them. They can also leave an online review. The process is repeated when they finish the book and leave it somewhere else. Emails will be sent to them informing them of what happens to the book after it leaves them - if someone who finds it registers with the website. Its founder says bookcrossing is designed to "make the whole world a library".

(Guardian, 14 August 2003)

In A tale of a storyteller, Michael Morpurgo describes how he rediscovered the joys of literacy (from Literacy Today, March 2002).

Books for breakfast

A scheme bringing books to the breakfast table aims to turn children into social readers. Puffin Books has teamed up with Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios to provide five titles by best-selling children's authors, which will be stuck to cereal boxes in plastic cases.

The five books, which are aimed at six to nine-year-olds, are: Loud-mouth Louis by Anne Fine, The Invisible Dog by Dick King Smith, There's a Viking in My Bed by Jeremy Strong, Mark Spark in the Dark by Jacqueline Wilson and The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy.

The packs will be on sale in supermarkets nationwide until the end of November.

(TES, 25 October 2002)

Scotland launches home reading co-ordinator & reading champions

Scotland launched a home reading co-ordinator and its own version of the National Reading Campaign's Reading Champions at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August 2002.

This is part of the Scottish Executive's strategy to improve children's literacy and numeracy. Development co-ordinators will be appointed to work with schools and local authorities.

The home reading co-ordinator will focus on the home. The initiative is intended to persuade parents, particularly fathers, to read with their children. Tackling the literacy gap between boys and girls is one of the priorities.

A leaflet for parents of children aged 0-8 outlines the benefits of home reading. An advertising campaign will be launched in November 2002. Grants worth £300,000 will be available from April 2003 to support local projects such as book-sharing clubs.

(TESS, 16 August 2002)

A new website dedicated to reading groups launched in July 2002, with the organisers hoping to take advantage of the recent surge in reading groups in the UK. The Bookgroup.info website is based on the reviews of a Brighton reading group over the last 10 years. It will feature and archive of books previously discussed by the group, adding a new title each month. All featured titles will be linked to pages on Amazon.co.uk for readers to purchase. The website will also profile reading groups and offer advice on setting up new forums. 

Visit www.bookgroup.info. 

Penguin and Orange have joined forces to create a national prize for reading groups. Entrants will be asked to write about their groups and book choices, with the prize going to those who demonstrate the most imaginative range of reading. The winning group will receive a trip to the Edinburgh Book Festival in August. The competition is being promoted in libraries and on the Penguin and Orange websites at www.penguin.co.uk and www.orangeprize.co.uk. 

(The Bookseller, 5 July 2002)

A flagship fund has successfully promoted reading and library usage, according to an independent survey published in May 2002. The Public Libraries Challenge Fund, set up in 1997 and jointly provided for by the Department for Culture, Media and Skills and the Wolfson charitable foundation, has given about £11 million to 117 public library projects. More than £2 million was allocated in 2000-2001 to a national reader development programme that has involved 33 library projects in England. About 70 library authorities have been involved in at least one of the schemes supported by the DCMS/Wolfson fund. Further funding was awarded to reader development projects in 2001-2002, although these are not covered by the report. 

The report into the fund's effectiveness was undertaken by the University of Brighton on behalf of Resource, the council for museums, libraries and archives. The report's authors said that they had found "significant evidence of creativity and innovation throughout the programme" and that the fund had been "resoundingly successful" in the short term. But the report also noted that the fund's attempts to build long-term reader development initiatives had met with "much more mixed" success. The short-term focus of the initiatives meant that few had been sustained, the authors noted. 

Reading Our Future: Evaluation of the DCMS/Wolfson Public Libraries Challenge Fund 2000-2001, by Margaret Wallis, Nick Moore and Audrey Marshall

The Football Association and sports psychologists have drawn up a list of 400 songs, films, books and video games which have been sent to Japan ahead of the England team's arrival.

The entertainment package comes in six categories - Get Fired Up, Chill Out, Have a Laugh, Escapism, Football Focus, and Get Patriotic - and is designed to ensure optimum performance on the pitch and full relaxation off it. Among the books selected are Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett, Atonement by Ian McEwan and The Little Book of Calm.

(The Guardian, 15 May 2002)

Bookshops and libraries need to update their elitist and intimidating image to encourage more people to read books, a conference was told in March 2002. The 'Promoting Reading' conference, organised jointly by the National Reading Campaign and the Campaign for Learning, brought together reading, literacy and basic skills coordinators from libraries and local education authorities to share ideas on promoting books and reader development. 

William Sieghart, founder and director of Forward Publishing, told delegates that potential readers were put off buying from bookshops. "People who like reading want to do more. We need to make it more enabling and positive, and to strip away the social and class barriers that restrict people. Take away the inhibitions and celebrate reading." Mr Sieghart claimed that the fast pace of modern life and rival leisure attractions were hampering the promotion of reading. "It's like pushing at an open door: everyone wants to read really but many don't do it."

Genevieve Clarke, manager of the National Reading Campaign, said there was a need to put readers at the centre of development programmes. "There are lots of people to whom the doors to reading remain closed. We all acknowledge that there is some way to go in building a nation of readers."

For more information on the National Reading Campaign, run by the National Literacy Trust, visit www.readon.org.uk. 

(The Bookseller, 15 March 2002)

As part of her time as Children's Laureate, author Anne Fine has decided to set up The Home Library scheme. Studies show that book borrowing and book ownership reinforce, rather than detract from each other. Her aim is to make young people think it is as strange to have no books in their bedroom as to have no toys or clothes.

The basis of the scheme is bookplates designed by leading children's book illustrators saying: "This Book Belongs in the Home Library of .". She is encouraging anyone - sports teams, clubs, societies - to create their own book plates. Anne Fine is hoping that teachers and pupils will make the scheme their own, and use it any way they please.

To share ideas or link your school's bookplates with www.myhomelibrary.org, contact Lois Beeson at locol@compuserve.com. A selection of bookplates is available from Oxfam Shops (with book purchases).

(TES, 15 March 2002)

Reading clubs help keep children reading after 11

Education Extra's report on 100 reading clubs shows that the voluntary reading clubs are popular with children, can increase reading ability and confidence, introduce the wonders of contemporary children's literature, and can be an adjunct to a more formal literacy strategy.

The clubs were aimed at pupils in the first year of secondary school. 80% of club members improved their reading age scores over the year from six months to four years. In a quarter of mixed-gender clubs, boys increased their reading age more than girls. Where schools looked at the reading-age scores from a similar group of pupils who did not go to the reading club, increases in reading age doubled over the year among club members compared with non members.

For a copy of the report ring 020 8709 9911 or email b.locker@educationextra.org.uk.

(Guardian, 5 February 2002)