World Book Day: best-selling author James Patterson writes special kids story

 
New leaf: James Patterson with son Jack, who inspired him to start writing for children
5 March 2014

Best-selling thriller writer James Patterson has written a special short story set in London to encourage children to read as part of World Book Day.

Organisers are giving a £1 book token to every child in the country that can be used on a series of 10 £1 titles including the American author’s contribution, Middle School: How I Got Lost in London.

It tells the story of Rafe Khatchadorian and a school trip to London which is designed to pique readers’ interest in places such as Tate Modern, HMS Belfast and the National Theatre, all of which get a mention.

Patterson, who started writing for young adults in 2005 as a way of getting his son Jack to read more, said: “If kids can’t read confidently by the time they’re 12 or 13 they’re going to have so much trouble. How will they keep going at school, how will they get jobs?”

His own son’s performance at school was transformed by the 2005 summer of “tough love” when Jack, now 16, read 12 titles at his parents’ insistence.

“He immediately got better at his school work. The thing that parents need to understand is that it’s their job, not the school’s job, to get books into the house, whether from libraries or wherever. If you’re not forcing children to read, you’re sending them out with a handicap.”

Patterson, who created the top-selling detective series Alex Cross, said he wished American newspapers would follow the example of the Evening Standard and its Get London Reading literacy campaign. “I wish newspapers over here would do that,” he said.

The author spends his own money on supporting literacy campaigns in the States but lamented World Book Day - which takes place today (Thursday 6)- was not the major event there that it has become in the UK.

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