BOLTON appears to have bucked the trend of booming sales in children's novels.

National figures have shown that millions more books have been sold since the Government launched its literacy campaign last year.

But booksellers in the town say they haven't noticed any major increase in the sale of children's stories.

Paul Hexham, assistant manager of the newly opened branch of Waterstones on Deansgate, said: "It's difficult to compare because we've only been open for six months.

"From what we've seen so far there doesn't seem to have been any noticeable increase.

"We were busier last week because of World Book Day when children were given vouchers for books.

"It was like Christmas then but that's because they had the vouchers to spend. Generally, from what I've seen elsewhere, I wouldn't say there's a major change in the sales of children's books."

He added that the figures could be based on the sales made by publishers to stockists, not the number of books leaving stores' shelves.

And a spokesman for the town's WH Smith branch painted a smilar picture with a mini-sales boom in recent weeks due to the vouchers, but with overall figures comparable to last year's.

She added: "It's not just children's novels which have been bought with the vouchers. Parents have also bought educational books as well, which are classed as children's books."

Across the country, publishers have welcomed Labour's literacy drive, one company claiming a 61 per cent increase in sales.

Researchers also claim a six per cent rise in the number of books sold between March and December compared to 1996.

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