Stephen Is A Reading Star

Stephen Ward has joined 19 other Premier League players to use the motivational power of football to encourage children to improve their literacy skills. As part of the Premier League Reading Stars programme they will set literacy challenges and talk about their favourite books, sharing their love of reading online at www.premierleaguereadingstars.org.uk.

Ward chose The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Digital Fortress by Dan Brown as his favourite titles

The National Literacy Trust programme, targets primary and secondary pupils who are not reaching the expected levels in literacy for their age. It sees every Premier League club nominate a player as their Reading Star. This player selects their favourite children's and adults' books to create a 40-strong book recommendation list. Any child with internet access can watch the unique films in which 20 high-profile Premier League players set 100 literacy challenges and explain why they picked their favourite books and what they enjoy about reading. Children completing challenges win prizes, while a child completing all 100 will get the chance to win some signed memorabilia.

Premier League Reading Stars, which is delivered by the National Literacy Trust and funded by Arts Council England and the Premier League, started in 2003. Since then over 100 Premier League players have supported the project, 15,000 children and parents have participated, and over 50,000 books have been read. Also 96% of children who have taken part say they will read more regularly because of participating in the project and 71% say they now read more because they know that footballers read.

Stephen Ward said, "I really got into reading when I had kids. I started reading them storybooks and from there I began reading more books for myself. I bought Dan Brown's Digital Fortress after seeing some the films that were made from his other books. I brought it on holiday with me last year and I couldn't put it down."

This year, the programme has been funded to work directly with 1000 schools and libraries in need and will reach over 30, 000 young people, with the potential for tens of thousands of reading challenges to be completed. For the first time the challenges online will reach millions of people all over the world and any school or library can fund their own resource pack to take part in the programme.

Jonathan Douglas, Director of the National Literacy Trust said: "Our research shows that a quarter of boys (28.3%)* say a sportsperson could inspire them to read. So getting footballers on board gives us a new and powerful strategy to get boys reading"

Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore added: "The success of Premier League Reading Stars in encouraging children to read over the last eight years underlines the wonderful power football has in engaging young people. This new online element of the programme is very exciting because it means many more children and their parents will be able to access and learn from the Reading Stars resources."

Minister of State for Schools, Nick Gibb, will be attending the event to support the project and speak passionately about boys' literacy. He said: "Knowing that Premier League footballers like Theo Walcott read for pleasure will go a long way to encouraging reluctant readers to pick up a book. The difference in reading ability between those who read for just half an hour a day is equivalent to a whole year's schooling at age 15. Encouraging young people to read could not be more important and I am grateful therefore for the work of the Premier League and the National Literacy Trust in delivering the Premier League Reading Stars programme.

The choices of the players' books ranged from bestsellers to the classics, thrillers to history. Once again there are familiar names such as Roald Dahl, JK Rowling, Dan Brown and Julia Donaldson, but the likes of Paulo Coelho, Bram Stoker, Harper Lee and Alexandre Dumas also make an appearance. Three of the players are authors in their own right: Theo Walcott, Fulham's Mark Schwarzer and Stoke City's Carlo Nash.