New research reveals that reading plays a vital role in the lives of blind and partially sighted people, helping them to overcome daily challenges, boosting mental well-being, enabling them to develop learning and skills and providing opportunities for social contact through reading groups.

Parents who want to encourage their children to read more will be relieved to hear that it needn't cost them a penny.

In a Reading Agency survey of 1,110 children aged 4-11 over a fifth (22%) selected visiting the library as the action most likely to make them want to read, compared to less than 2% saying that reading a book on an ipad or kindle was the thing most likely to make them want to read.

The Reading Agency is delighted that bestselling novelist and former SAS soldier Andy McNab will lead its 2013 Six Book Challenge to help get even more adults reading more.