[Harry!]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20090403...r-6323e80.html



England and Manchester United star Wayne Rooney revealed he is a Harry Potter fan as he backed a campaign to get children reading.

The footballer picked JK Rowling's first novel, Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, as one of his favourite books, and said the series "really gets your imagination going".

Rooney is one of 20 Premier League footballers to recommend their favourite books as part of an initiative by the National Literacy Trust to inspire a love of reading in schoolchildren.

The eclectic list of choices included former children's laureate Michael Morpurgo's War Horse, a story about the First World War told from a horse's perspective, chosen by Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher, to Muhammad Ali's autobiography The Soul Of A Butterfly, picked by Arsenal player Bacary Sagna.

England and Portsmouth goalkeeper David James recommended Moneyball by M Lewis, a tale about baseball, while Blackburn's Paul Robinson chose The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin S Sharma.

Rooney said: "Harry Potter is almost every child's favourite book and the same goes for a lot of adults too! JK Rowling is a fantastic author and I would encourage any child to read the Harry Potter books - they are full of excitement and adventure and they really get your imagination going."

The latest list of Premier League Reading Stars was revealed as a study commissioned by the trust found that sports stars are among the most inspirational figures for young people.

The study, which questioned 2,176 primary and secondary school pupils aged seven to 15, looked at how role models can influence children's reading habits. It found that after family members, sports people were the public figures most likely to inspire reading.

More than a fifth (22%) chose sports stars, compared to 20% who picked actors/actresses, while 17% chose musicians and 16.7% chose politicians. Mothers and fathers (71.5% and 61.9% respectively) were the most likely to inspire reading . And young people from poorer backgrounds were twice as likely to say that their role model was a sports star.

Overall, after family members, sports people were the most likely to be role models for youngsters.