I'm not sure if it is with amusement or dismay that I write this. Thanks to the National literacy Strategy my little girls, even Rozi, upon being given a book, carefully read the front cover, telling me, "That's the title, that's the author, and that's the illustrator," before turning it over to tell me, "I'm just looking for the blurb!" This is, it seems, the proper technical term for the paragraph on the back.

I was always an avid reader, but was really only concerned with the story. I felt that if the introduction was vital it would be included in chapter one, so often this remained unread until I'd finished the book itself. I know there are concerns about dumbing down, butsurely an author would prefer to be read for the pure enjoyment. Would budding authors want to find themselves on a school syllabus? Some books can become favourites in spite of being picked to pieces at achool though I would attribute this to having an excellent teacher.

There are concerns these days about low standards in writing in schools, with Key Stage 2 SATS results being consistently low in this subject. At curriculum meetings of the governing body on which I sit, we ask questions about why this might be; how can children be made to want to write in the first place? Maybe we should encourage them all to Blog, as there seems to be no shortage of willing writers. My secondary-school age children all have their own sites; I stumbled across one, with a more than liberal sprinkling of swear-words not allowed in the house, but a very interesting section on the importance of having good manners!