THE PUFFIN BOOK CLUB

You can phone the Puffin Book Club Freephone on 0500 454 444 or website at www.puffinbookclub.com.

When you join the Puffin Book Club, you will receive a comprehensive start-up pack. This explains more about how to get the most out of the Puffin Book Club and suggests fun and creative ways to maintain a focus on books and reading throughout the school year - every year. You will also receive your booklist for selecting free books.

Still not sure what we're about? We've put together some frequently asked questions which, hopefully, will help you decide if we can be of use to your school.

HOW EXACTLY DOES THE PUFFIN BOOK CLUB WORK?

Twice every term, Puffin Club Coordinators receive a bundle of leaflets to distribute to the children. There are three different leaflets for 3-5 years, 6-8 years and 9-11 years - each features a selection of books appropriate to the age-range. The children decide, with the help of the their parents, which books they wish to buy. They then return their individual order forms and money to the Puffin Book Club Coordinator. The Coordinator then completes a master order form and totals up the order for the whole group of children. They can then calculate the FREE book entitlement for the school.

HOW MANY FREE BOOKS DO WE GET?

There are currently four levels of FREE book offers. If the value of the order is between £100 and £299, you can claim £100 worth of free books. If the order is between £300 and £399, you can claim £300 worth of free books. If the order exceeds £400, you can claim £400 worth of free books. But the Puffin Book Club is generous to all its members. Even if the value of the order is below £100, you can claim 20% of the order value in free books.

WHO CHOOSES WHICH FREE BOOKS WE RECEIVE?

You do! When you join the Puffin Book Club, you receive a booklist. This currently features 400 top-selling Puffin titles, from which you can select free books. This is a great way to make book budgets stretch further and still receive high quality books, whether you are looking for books for the reading corner, the school library or for class sets.

SO, DO YOU NEED TO BE A TEACHER TO RUN THE CLUB IN SCHOOLS?

No, the Puffin Book Club Coordinator does not necessarily need to be a teacher. It could be a school librarian, a governor, a PTA member or a parent. Basically, it can be anyone with a bit of time and enthusiasm who wants to help to spread the love of reading.

IS MEMBERSHIP LIMITED TO ONE MEMBERSHIP PER SCHOOL?

No! The more the merrier. There can be several Puffin Club Coordinators in every school. In an ideal world, there would be one for each class. That means that every class would be earning FREE books for the school.

WHAT KIND OF BOOKS DOES THE PUFFIN BOOK CLUB FEATURE?

Remaining true to our aim of delivering reading, the Club provides individual children and schools with books that create the foundation for a lifetime of reading. The Club benefits enormously from the quality of publishing which Puffin has produced during the past 60 years and its legion of best-selling and award-winning authors and artists including Allan Ahlberg, Eric Carle, Roald Dahl, Anne Fine and Dick King-Smith.

We are now delighted to be able to supplement the best of Puffin with the best of other publishers. Now members can choose from the widest ever selection, including David McKee's Elmer titles, J K Rowling's Harry Potter books, books by Jacqueline Wilson, Funfax titles, Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes and titles in the Animal Ark series.

The Puffin Book Club offers a very wide range of classic and contemporary reading material including picture books, poetry, fiction, non-fiction and film and TV tie-ins. This breadth of material reflects not only what children, of differing interests and reading capabilities, want but also what the Literacy Hour requires.

I USED TO BE A MEMBER OF THE PUFFIN CLUB. I GOT MAGAZINES AT HOME AND WENT TO PUFFIN DAYS IN LONDON. IS IT STILL THE SAME?

The Puffin Book Club was launched by Puffin editor Kaye Webb in 1967. At the time, Kaye voiced her aim to make children into readers. The club was set up as a home-based club which did not sell books but instead provided children with information about books and the opportunity to meet authors and artists.

In the 1970s, the decision was taken to move the Puffin Book Club's focus from home to school and to start selling books. This enterprise proved hugely successful for many years but Penguin still felt improvements could be made in terms of serving their schools - and readers - more successfully which lead to a new look Puffin Book Club launched in early 2000.