FOR many youngsters the colourful characters and dramatic storylines of their favourite novel might be enough to tempt them to pick up a book — but all is not lost for those who need more encouragement thanks to the popular Booktrack scheme.

To get the award, children have to plough through 100 books chosen from Devon's various libraries.

There's no chance of cheating as boys and girls are quizzed on the books they read by librarians, but they do get stickers and badges to help them get through the challenge.

At the end of the challenge, which can take up to 18 months, children get a certificate and the chance to appear in the Express & Echo.

The aim of the scheme is to make sure children read widely and develop their literacy skills, as well as making sure they are used to their local library.

Booktrack has been running for around 20 years and there are currently 5,000 youngsters completing it.

For Adam Rowe, eight, starting the booktrack was a chance to keep up with 10-year-old sister Elisha, who had begun the award 18 months before.

A year and a half later, the siblings, who go to Broadclyst Primary School, have read 200 books between them and mum Sadie says both are doing well in school.

Both use Clyst Vale Community College's Library and on his last visit Adam brought home 12 books thanks to his new-found enthusiasm for the written word.

Mrs Rowe said: "It brought them on leaps and bounds, and opened up the world of reading to them. I'm really proud of them.

"Adam now gets lots of different books when he goes to the library and he can now understand more of what he reads, for example he can guess which tone characters are speaking in and when he reads aloud he uses punctuation.

"Elisha has always had her nose in a book but I think even she enjoys reading more now.

"She now knows which authors she enjoys and because she is used to the library she can look them up to see what else they have written."

Keely White, eight, took 18 months to reach her target of 100 books. The Exwick Heights Primary pupil is now impressing her teachers with her reading and writing skills.

Mum Rachel says the scheme encouraged Keely, who lives in Redhills, to read lots of different types of books.

"Keely has loved books from an early age and has read since she was five. Now she loves reading on her own at bedtime," Mrs White said.

"Booktrack has meant she is now even confident enough to pick up my newspapers and magazines and read them too.

"Reading has helped her do really well at school and it also encourages her imagination. She loves writing her own stories and plays.

"I think Booktrack has given her the confidence to choose much harder books."

Billy Tagg made the journey from his home in Heavitree to Topsham in order to get his award.

The nine-year-old, who goes to Emmanuel School, in Blackboy Road, loves funny stories and factual books about history.

His dad John has praised Billy's commitment to the scheme.

"The stickers and badges certainly motivated him to go for it which I was surprised about," he said.

"He really enjoyed telling the librarian about the books because she was a nice lady."