Britain Marks World Book Day

Britain celebrates World Book Day today (ahead of the rest of the world which celebrates on April 23rd) and more titles are added to the excellent series of Quick Reads aimed at providing accessible reading materials for the less than less than fluent or time strapped reader.

The World Book Day website has some pretty good book-related games for kids (which - ahem! - might appeal to adults too.)

I found though an unpardonable blooper in their quiz for adults. Can you spot it too?

The first Book to Talk Award, organised in conjunction with the event has been given to Boy A by Jonathan Trigell. The longlist was drawn up by publishing industry experts and librarians, and then the shortlist and final winner were decided by public vote.

Trigell's novel has certainly sparked off some controversy. According to the Guardian it is :

... a sympathetic account of a young man released from prison after committing an appalling crime as a child. After a peculiarly sheltered childhood, the protagonist has a strange innocence, and struggles not only with his atrocious memories but also to build a new life under his assumed identity. ... The book's plot has clear similarities to the true story of toddler James Bulger's juvenile killers, and unsurprisingly provoked much heated discussion on the Books to Talk About website. The polarised opinions made it a natural contender for a prize rewarding books that inspire discussion, both in book clubs and among individual readers.

There's nothing to mark the day in Malaysia this time round but it's still a good excuse for a book buying spree and Times Bookstores have a World Book Day special: 20% off all titles and an extra RM10 voucher if you spend over RM200.

Little Books with a Big Mission

My article about World Book Day and how we get to celebrate it twice in Malaysia is in StarMag today. I have to tell you that it was written in record time (for me, anyway! Had to pretend to myself I was writing a blog entry between first and second cups of tea!)

Anyway, the article allowed me to do a little bit of tub-thumping over a couple of issues close to my heart - reading campaigns and books for marginal readers.

The Quick Reads series I mention in the article is I think a very exciting innovation - short, exciting reads by top writers, which are accessible to those who might find a longer book a bit of a struggle. They are not in any sense simplified readers and there is nothing dumbed down about them. This I think is a very important point.

New titles have just been released in conjunction with World Book Day 2007 including Lily by Adele Geras, Twenty Tales from the War Zone by John Simpson, Dr Who: Made of Steel by Terrance Dicks, The Sun Book of Short Stories and the delightfully titled Reading: My Arse! a novel by Ricky Thomlinson. The series is also supported by extensive resource material.

I have seen the books in Times in Bangsar Shopping Complex, but they were just mixed in with everything else. Other bookstores seem to sadly have missed the boat. (I have, though, ordered the whole set for the British Council Library and feel they will be ideal for the language learners who use the resources there.)

I reckon that if Britain has almost a fifth of the population who are sub-literate, Malaysia is likely to have a much higher proportion. You can't simply issue a government directive and tell people that they should read books. Many people can't read books!

But perhaps they can be lead to reading books if the stepping stones are put in place for them.

The simple equation is this: if a marginal reader picks up a little book that they can finish without too much of a struggle, and has a very enjoyable reading experience, they will be looking to repeat the experience.

Anyway, it's World Book Day tomorrow, so why not buy a book for a close friend as a gift and present it with a red rose?

Literature for the Sub-Literate

It seems that anywhere between 7-12 million readers in the UK struggle with sub-literacy and consequently never pick up a book.

Enter Quick Reads, a new series of books launched in the UK on World Book Day, and aimed at those marginal readers. The price is low at £2.99 (aboutRM20), the print large, the language plain and the covers bright and tempting. And all the books have been specially commissioned from established writers. The first batch includes works by Ruth Rendell, Minette Walters, Richard Branson. More titles will be added in May. Boyd Tonkin in the Independent welcomes the intiative, but likes some ot the titles much better than others.

Quick Reads are not only good for emergent readers, they're good for the book trade, tapping into a market thus far completely untapped. If there's a low profit margin on Quick Reads, booksellers will be more than compensated by return customers who've suddenly discovered the power of the book.

And of course, there should be a lesson in here for booksellers and all those with a stake in adult literacy here in Malaysia where the greatest need is to grow a readership is given much lip service to, but no-one seems quite sure what to do about it in practical terms. If such a high proportion of native speakers struggle to read in their first language, what more of many Malaysians for whom English is a second?