ITV supports literacy

ITV IS BACKING the National Year of Reading with the commissioning of Bookaboo!, a multi-platform live-action animation series about a drum-playing rock puppy who can't perform solo unless he's been read a story. The 13-part series of 10-minute episodes will air from September and is being produced by BAFTA-winning Happy Films. It will feature "soon-to-be-announced celebrity guests", who will meet Bookaboo backstage and help him out by sharing a story. The celebs will become Storytime Ambassadors for NYoR 2008 alongside Jim Knight, Minister of State for Schools and Learners, who is supporting the campaign.

The series will be backed by an online book club and in-store promotions. Emma Tennant, Controller of CITV and ITV3 observed that, "in an age where British schoolchildren are ditching books for computer games and reports are being released showing decreased literacy levels among primary school pupils, I think it's fantastic that CITV has the opportunity to commission a programme such as Bookaboo! that can provide a much-needed antidote to the recent decline in reading".

Story from PN Online.