Football stars achieving goal of getting young fans into libraries

SCOTTISH football clubs played their part in promoting literacy and reading among children yesterday with the launch of the SPL Reading Stars scheme.

The programme, now in its second year, involves all 12 Scottish Premier League clubs, from whom 12 volunteer players have chosen their favourite adult and children's book for libraries local to the teams to receive.

A total of 21 libraries will be involved, though every schoolchild throughout Scotland will have the opportunity to take part in the project.

The list of team selections shows a broad spectrum of tastes among the players.

Motherwell's Lukas Jutkiewicz chose John Steinbeck's The Winter of Discontent and anti-utopian fantasy The Giver by Lois Lowry, while Paul Sheerin of St Johnstone selected Harper Lee's classic To Kill a Mocking Bird and The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson.

Children's author Roald Dahl proved to be a popular choice, with Dundee United's Sean Dillon, Hearts' Craig Thomson and Kilmarnock's Allan Russell picking titles by him.

The scheme, backed by the Scottish Government, is said to have had a significant impact on those who took part in last year's programme.

Of the 200 adults who participated, 91 per cent said that they read more as a family and 100 per cent felt their child was reading more.

Neil Doncaster, the SPL chief executive, said: "This innovative partnership uses SPL footballers as positive role models to capture the imagination of families up and down the country, and gets the message across that reading is an important and valuable skill."