Read, and the world's your fortune cookie

Do children read less in these days of computer games and wall- to-wall television? Wendy Berliner investigates

Joanne Day, 11, shares two home computers and two game-playing computers with her younger brother, Andrew, but they have not used them much lately - they have been reading books instead.

"If a book is good, you find that when you have read some you can't put it down," says Joanne. "I still prefer computer games to books but it's easy to forget about the games when you are reading," adds Andrew.

Since November, Joanne has read 3,400 pages and Andrew, aged eight, has read 2,400. They can be absolutely certain of the numbers because for the last four months Joanne and Andrew have been taking part in an un- sophisticated but extraordinarily successful scheme to get children to read more.

Both are pupils at Leighswood Junior School in Aldridge, a suburb of Walsall in the West Midlands, which last November introduced "Books and Beyond", a 16-year-old American idea that is simplicity itself - a reading marathon rewarded by small incentives.

Reading targets are set - at Leighswood school either 300 pages for competent readers or 20 books (simple early readers) - and once accomplished earn treats that are handed out at special assemblies. Being read to by someone else counts as much as reading, so non-readers or children with learning problems can be on an equal footing with everyone else.

At Leighswood, the readers have been making an imaginary trip around the world for each block of reading completed. Paintings of famous landmarks line the reception hall of the school and round each painting are clustered named pins.

You have to read the target 300 pages or 20 books before you receive your personal pin, and you cannot move on to the next country before you have completed your next block of reading. Only books read at home count and cheating is forbidden.

On arrival in each "country" the reader receives a paper flag and there are some extra goodies on the way. On arrival in Switzerland, there is a piece of Swiss chocolate waiting and in China, a fortune cookie.

At the end there is a "gold" medal and a certificate, and you can go round again if you want to, although the amount you have to read in each block rises with every circuit. One girl and boy have been round three times - they have read 14,400 pages each since November.

Based on the notion that children will want to read more if they see adults reading, adult participation is a key component of the scheme. Leighswood has teachers, dinner ladies, school secretaries, school nurses, governors, parents, grandparents, older and younger siblings and step- relations as well as more than 90 per cent of the 263 children in the school taking part.

Gwen Smith, who has joined the scheme with her three children, is a gold medallist reader. "Because of all the reading going on, sometimes the TV does not go on at home now until 7pm or 8pm. It's a good scheme."

Leighswood's head, Jan Taylor, is a gold medallist, too - one of a total 172. Colourful paper flags and certificates adorn the door of her office. She has managed to find time to read in term time to earn them - something she thought would be impossible.

"If I can find time to read, then anyone can," she says. "I even find myself reading while eating my breakfast."

She is full of praise for the idea, which she decided to try because of her worries that her children were not always crossing the boundary between being competent readers and readers of depth and richness due to competition for time from other things in their lives.

"The majority could read adequately at their chronological age but they were not automatically turning to books for pleasure. They were playing video games or watching TV instead," she says. "Because of that they were not going into the higher reading levels and getting the reading scores of years gone by."

She is convinced the scheme cannot fail and cites early evidence that the reading bug is beginning to bite.

"One emergent reader, a boy of seven who we just could not get motivated to read despite all our efforts, has read 180 books through this scheme and has definitely moved on to the next stage of reading. We are finding that competent but indifferent readers are turning into avid readers. The boy who has gone round the board three times was not an avid reader until now."

Leighswood is one of 30 primary schools and one comprehensive that have adoptedBooks and Beyond since it was introduced to the borough in 1993 by Tim Hazeldine, head of Walsall's learning support service.

Mr Hazeldine has an almost missionary zeal about the concept and has now been seconded by the local authority to develop it in Walsall and offer training to teachers from elsewhere.

He estimates that some 5,000 families in Walsall are involved with the scheme. "I am convinced that families right across our area are discovering how wonderful it is to share books together. We know from a number of schools that children who have not been read to by their parents before are now being read to. It is such a simple idea but there is so much joy in it."

Books and Beyond has been successful in schools of widely differing social backgrounds. Leighswood, for example, has a mixed catchment area - 50 per cent of homes are owner occupied and 50 per cent are council owned. Some children are from very disadvantaged backgrounds while others live in four-bedroomed relative luxury.

But it was first tried at King Charles Junior and Infant School in Bentley, an industrial working- class neighbourhood with a high proportion of ethnic minority children.

It did not enjoy the same initial take up as Leighswood but it grew rapidly, and borrowing from the junior section of the local library grew by a startling 74 per cent by the time the scheme ended this time last year.

More significantly, borrowing stayed high throughout the summer months and, when the school reinstituted the scheme last November, even more children and adults wanted to take part than the first time round.

David Brook, the head at King Charles, and his wife, head at another Walsall primary school, paid for themselves to travel to California during the summer holidays and train as Books and Beyond trainers.

"I really believe in this one," he says. "It has made a difference here. You find that anything you do that involves reading is done that bit better than before.

"Even something like teaching Christmas carols was a pleasure - it was less like rote learning. You hear children recommending books to one another in the library. You hear them asking for stuff by particular authors.

"I do think it has raised the profile of literacy in the school and, more importantly, it has raised it in the community."

Further information on training packages can be obtained from Tim Hazeldine, Books and Beyond, c/o Walsall Educational Development Centre, Field Road, Bloxwich, Walsall WS3 3JF; telephone 01922 711931, ext. 137.

FACT AND FICTION

Some insights into what children read and why

Adventure, horror and hobbies books are consistent favourites of both sexes.

More girls read diaries and romance.

More boys read sport and science fiction.

Three out of five boys and four out of five girls aged 7- 11 would like more help choosing books.

Boys identify with a wider range of characters than girls.

More boys in any age group would rather play a new computer game than watch a favourite television programme or curl up with a good book.

Bedtime is the favourite time for reading.

The bath, the bathroom and the toilet are popular places to read.

Most children think books make good presents.

Girls are more likely to be influenced by their parents in book choice, boys by their teachers.

Boys are prepared to make independent choices earlier than girls.

Source: `Contemporary Juvenile Reading Habits: A study of young people's reading at the end of the century', by the Children's Literature Research Centre, Roehampton Institute. Price £15.