Get them to start with what they love - whether it's reading the sports pages or checking gaming shortcuts.

Most adults think of reading as being immersed in a good novel - but for teenagers, enjoyable reading is far more likely to be on-screen or in a magazine.

The fact is that reading covers everything from works of fact and fiction to websites and even the back of cereal packets -- and that's what the National Year of Reading 2008 is trying to get across to both parents and children.

Research into the reading habits of 7-14-year-old schoolchildren by the National Literacy Trust has found that magazines, websites and emails are read most frequently at home, while poetry, instructions and factual books are read least.

"The report talks a lot about what do we mean by reading, and makes it very clear that there's a significant gap between what teenagers enjoy reading and what they feel is formally endorsed as viable reading," says Honor Wilson-Fletcher, director of the National Year of Reading.

"What we're trying to make clear to them is that reading has never come in as many varieties as it does now, and that there's validity in reading pretty much everything.

"We're not saying that a woman's celebrity magazine is the equivalent of Shake speare, but what we are saying is that all reading is valuable."

The National Year of Reading aims to "build a greater national passion for reading", and has sparked a series of local and national events to promote reading. The next national initiative, to be launched at the end of this month, is Rants and Raves, which aims to start a debate among teenagers about what they love and hate to read, in order to help adults better understand "what turns teenagers on about reading, as well as what turns them off."

Lists of teenagers' top 10 best and worst reads are currently being compiled, and Wilson-Fletcher says many of the suggestions for favourite reads are "well beyond the conventional ideas of fiction and poetry, a substantial chunk of which are digital.

"There are some very familiar names on the list, and there are also some more surprising ones. They reflect the range of interests of teenagers today, it's just that they don't all come between two covers."

To get kids interested in reading in the first place, Wilson-Fletcher says parents simply reading themselves can help, as can visiting libraries.

"Parents shouldn't be critical of certain forms of reading, and shouldn't demonise screen-based reading," she warns.

"They should be really careful not to be prescriptive, suggesting that some forms of reading are better' than others, and embrace the kind of reading that kids really enjoy.

"Get them to start with what they love - whether it's reading the sports pages or checking gaming shortcuts."

She stresses that the aim is to encourage adults and children to read more, and adds: "The whole point of the Year of Reading is that we've got to engage with the audiences who feel potentially most excluded from the perceived wisdom of what they should read.

"Reading, even if it's the back of a cereal packet, seeps into every corner of your life - just don't forget that it is reading."

• To find out more about National Year of Reading events in your area, visit www.yearofreading.org.uk

11:42am Monday 17th March 2008

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