AN event this week aims to create a town full of young readers.

Hartlepool youngsters and their parents can find out the Bookstart scheme on Thursday, from 9am to 5.30pm, at an information stand in the Middleton Grange Shopping Centre.

Run by Hartlepool Borough Council's libraries service and funded by the Government, Bookstart aims to involve children in reading at an early age.

Under the scheme, babies aged about nine months are given an introduction-to-books pack, and toddlers aged about 18 months receive a reading pack from their health visitor.

Bookstart was extended last year with a programme in which all three-year-olds in Hartlepool will be given a free Treasure Box at nursery over the next year.

The Treasure Boxes contain books, pens and bookplates.

At Thursday's event, there will be displays of Bookstart packs, information for parents, balloons and stickers, details of the read and rhyme sessions at Hartlepool Central Library and information from the Sure Start and Early Years initiatives.

Fiona Marshall-Bell, the council's Bookstart support worker, said: "Reading is vital to a child's development, plus it opens the door to a wonderful world of fun and adventure.

"So if your youngster hasn't yet been bitten by the reading bug or you would just like to find out more about boosting your child's reading, call and see us at the stand."