Are children deterred from reading for pleasure by the time they finish primary school? The majority of 410 secondary school English teachers surveyed recently believe they are.

The survey, commissioned to coincide with the publication of a new set of classroom reading books, the ‘Heroes’ series, found that: l by the time children go to secondary school they are spending too much time online; l reading a book is regarded as ‘uncool’; l not enough time is spent outside the classroom reading; l when youngsters do read they prefer escapist, fantasy or horror stories; l parents need to do more to encourage reading for pleasure.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb chipped in: “In a world of so many distractions for young minds, the place of literature is more important than ever. Children need to master the basics of reading as early as possible so that they can go on to explore magical and powerful books such as Harry Potter and, in good time, books such as Animal Farm and those by Charles Dickens.”

Councillor Ralph Berry, Bradford Council’s portfolio holder for children and young people’s services, was having a look round Hazel Beck Special School, when he responded to the survey’s findings, sceptically.

“I suspect what you’ve got is a professional group whose attitude is that all that is wrong with the world can be attributed to kids playing on their Xbox. I would be more interested in asking kids themselves,” he said.

Ask any professional group and you’ll get the answer that promotes their particular interest. Coun Berry, formerly married to a teacher and with his own family, takes a more empirical view of how things actually are.

“I wouldn’t dismiss completely what people get off the internet,” he says, “I have a smart phone here with books on that I read when I travel. I am optimistic. I have seen children's reading stimulated by the internet. I remember the waves of enthusiasm that greeted the publication of the Harry Potter books.”

This summer sees the start of a book scheme for under-fives, founded by country singer Dolly Parton, on Bradford’s Canterbury Estate.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which has a branch in Rotherham, works with Penguin books, supplying books to under-fives registered for the scheme. The aim is for them to receive a free book through the post every month until their fifth birthday, so they can build up their own library and develop a love of reading from an early age.

Former Children’s Laureate Anne Fine, author of Goggle Eyes and Madame Doubtfire, is amazed that, with all the distractions, there are so many good readers among young children. She said providing children have access to books and their natural love of story-telling is given time and attention by parents, “the sheer joy of literature” will prevail, in spite of misguided teaching methods in some schools.

“One problem is children being taught to pull apart the mechanics of how authors write stories – a confusion of the process with the product. Art is a product; it doesn’t matter how you get there – not for Years Three and Four. Bore them with ‘buzz words’ and ‘connectives’ and there won’t be much of an incentive to read, let alone write,” she says.

“Masses of children do read – but they are working in a much harder situation because there are too many distractions. Solitude is so rare now. It’s amazing anybody reads at all.”

Children’s author Tom Palmer, who worked in Bradford’s literary scene 12 years ago, returns to the city’s Waterstones branch tomorrow to promote his latest children’s adventure, Black Op. He has been touring bookshops, schools and festivals, talking to children aged between eight to 12.

“I think children are still reading a lot. Reading for pleasure is not a dead art at all. Every time I do an event I ask them what they read. I find out what to give my daughter to read, based on what they tell me,” he said.

“I know there’s a big problem with children not reading, but I think all that doom and gloom about computer games is overplayed.

“One of the things I come up against all the time is children who love reading football reports in the paper or magazines, but don’t think it’s real reading. But it is reading.

“Snobbery among a small proportion of people still plays a part. I was asked by a teacher in Hull: ‘You write stories about football, when are you going to write about something proper?’ “It’s the stuff that children love that doesn’t win prizes. Reading for pleasure is to do with having confidence in yourself.”