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'Daybreak' launches 'Get Britain Reading' campaign

27.02.12 | Lisa Campbell

ITV1 breakfast show "Daybreak" has today launched a campaign to "Get Britain Reading" in conjunction with the Salvation Army and "more than 50 UK celebrities".

Actor Michael Sheen and choreographer Arlene Phillips are among the well-known names putting their faces to a five-day campaign asking families to read every day to their children and donate books at 100 Morrisons shops and 50 Waterstones stores across the country to help projects run by The Salvation Army, Dyslexia Action and Booktrust.

Theaim of the campaign is to help families improve their reading skills and raise awareness of the difficulties people face coping with illiteracy and dyslexia.

Sheen said: "Books have been like doorways for me all my life. When I was growing up, being able to read books let me enter new worlds and discover all kinds of new possibilities . . .

He added: "My own favourite books growing up were things like Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. As a teen I discovered the Hobbit and then Lord of the Rings, the Elric stories, Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy are some of the best books I've ever read. So many books and so many doors leading to so many exciting worlds."

Major John Smith, adult and family ministries officer for The Salvation Army, said: "We are delighted to be a part of Get Britain Reading, as an organisation we believe in helping people find their way in life and breaking down barriers that are holding them back . . . Programmes like our adult literacy courses in Chesterton and Sunderland, allow us to fulfill this promise."

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By Small Publisher

Very commendable, but why do they need to involve '50 celebrities'. What's wrong with '50 authors'? Soon, the only books available which aren't already published will be half-baked celebrity memoirs and cookery books. Makes me mad.......

Wed, 29/02/2012 - 10:44
By anonynous21

erm small publihser - seeing as the aim of the campaign is to get people reading more, sharing books etc then its likely that those it is aimed at are not heavy book readers so may not be aware of who certain authors are. So in this case celebs promoting it will help raise the profile, get people involved. Also i really dont understand your final point, seeing as this campaign is about reading books and Sheen even mentions Peter Pan and the Hobbit, quite how you think this could somehow lead to there only being celeb memoirs and cookery books is beyond me, surely this is good for fiction in general

Wed, 29/02/2012 - 17:37
By Adele Ward

I hope there's a Waterstones or Morrisons near me taking books. They can 'get reading' my hoarded books of a lifetime. I can't stand the sight of them any more! However, I do still keep buying them, and have committed to buying from bookshops whenever possible this year.

Fri, 02/03/2012 - 16:00
By ukchrisuk

An excellent initiative. In this day and age in a supposedly advanced society, for there to be over six million adults with reading difficulties shows a massive failure by past governments to get a handle on the issue. One can only hope that the Get Britain Reading campaign will help to significantly reduce illiteracy in the UK

Sat, 03/03/2012 - 18:05

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