Biggleswade twins launch The Reading Adventure Club to encourage youngsters to love literature

Talented twins from Biggleswade are on a mission to encourage children to enjoy the thrill of reading.

Finn and Albert Manley, nine, have launched a new business called The Reading Adventure Club, in which families can subscribe to receive a surprise storybook each month - and lots of goodies, too!

When youngsters turn the pages there will presents to open at certain points in the plot, allowing readers to fully immerse themselves in the world of the characters.

Albert said: "We thought, well if children get a bit bored of books, what about adding gifts in for when they're reading - a gift that's inspired by part of the story?

"For example, one character buys a cool watch from a website, so we said, 'Let's put a watch in there!'"

The boys' mum, Lisa Johnson, helped the twins to get started with their subscription box, which contains a book and up to 10 wrapped gifts.

The presents can only be opened at certain points in the story - (there'll be a note to say when) - and the gift is either fun or educational.

Finn said: "First of all, we looked at which books we wanted to have in the boxes. We chose a book and we read along it all together and picked out the places where the presents could be.

"Then we had to buy the presents, properly decide where they would go, and decide how many for each book."

Mum Lisa added: "We also had to work out how much profit we were going to get.

"We started planning in about February/March and I taught them business skills as we went along.

"I'm a business consultant, and I thought, if adults can do it, then the kids can do it too!

"That's how it all started. I think it's really good to teach kids more about business and careers."

So far the boys have had a great reception and have already received their first blog review, while TV presenter Katy Hill posted about the box in her Instagram stories.

Meanwhile, readers should also watch this space, as Albert and Finn are currently building their Christmas campaign.

Talking about his love of reading, Finn said: "I really like how you can have lots of different twists in books. The start of the book can be a normal story and then a twist can change the whole book around.

"I hope children join The Reading Adventure Club so they can learn, and so they can understand how much fun reading can be."

The twins added: "We would like to say thank you to Julie Gibson and Mummy for helping us to organise it and thank you to our step dad [Sam] who bought all the gifts."

The Reading Adventure Club is aimed at children aged 8 to 11 years old.

Each month subscribers will receive an adventure book through the post and there will also be prompts and questions to keep readers on their toes - and to get them used to reading, analysing and feeding back, exactly as they do at school.

The books are carefully chosen by Albert and Finn for each month and are a surprise for the buyer.

There is also the option of a rolling months subscription at £35.

The boys attend Steeple Morden Primary School and both love reading, with Finn currently tackling The Hobbit and Albert enjoying adventure in Danger Dan.

To find out more, visit: https://www.thereadingadventureclub.com/