For many still sneak a torch to bed so they can flick through the pages of the favourite novel long after Mum and Dad have insisted on lights out.

"Sometimes my mum and dad will only let me read for a few minutes but I carry on reading under the duvet," said Louis Rowton, aged seven.

Classmate Sophie Forster reads books at bedtime for a different reason.

"I don't think I could get to sleep without making my eyes tired first," she said.

But the youngsters at Yorston Lodge suspect their parents know why sometimes they do it.

"Reading makes you cleverer," said 10-year-old Abigail Irlam. "It gives you more vocabulary and if you read history books you get more knowledge about it."

Her pal, Victoria Foden, also 10, couldn't agree more.

"It gives you an imagination and helps me to write stories in class because I get ideas from books," she said.

It seems children inherit a love of books from their parents.

"My dad reads loads of books and my mum always used to read to me when I was little," said six-year-old Emma Jenyons, a pupil at Egerton Primary.

But they don't always like those books that appeal to grown-ups.

"My dad reads lots of books about the history of Knutsford and Chelford," said Abigail.

"I don't want to read them. Story books are much better."

Roald Dahl seems quite popular, especially with Egerton pupil Kirsty Mackay.

"I love his books," she says.

Pupils at Yorston Lodge recently took part in a readathon, raising £1,700 for the Roald Dahl Foundation.