Author says schools should use thrillers to build reading skills

Too much of the literature taught in UK schools puts children off reading and thrillers should become part of the curriculum, one of the world's biggest-selling authors has argued.

- Mark Brown North of England correspondent

Lee Child, the British writer of Jack Reacher novels, which have sold more than 100m copies worldwide, said: "I can totally understand why, if you're an English teacher and you've read all your life and you love this stuff and you've been to university, then you want to introduce the big, major masterpieces. But that's too much for kids."

Social media was a factor, he said: "Now it is just so fragmented and so urgent and so breathless and so when do you get the time to sit and read?" He also argued that thrillers should be on the curriculum and in school libraries, adding: "You should have whatever is compelling and whatever gets people into the habit of reading. Then you can have the fancy stuff later, of course, but don't start with it."