[Publib] QuickReads product

[Adult Services Manager]

Hello!  I am wondering if anyone out there has any experience with QuickReads?  
 
Here is their website....
http://www.niace.org.uk/quickreads/user/index.php
 
Borrowing from their website...“Quick Reads, a program designed for adults with literacy problems "is improving reading and boosting self-esteem," according to the Guardian. Nine out of 10 of the people who have read the compact titles "told researchers their reading has improved and they feel better about themselves."  A partnership "between publishers, booksellers, the government, and a range of bodies including the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace) and the Trades Union Congress," Quick Reads was launched two years ago. The 10 titles available "include books by bestselling fiction writers Adele Parks, Josephine Cox and Chris Ryan, and autobiographical accounts of winning out against the odds by the rugby player Scott Quinnell, the athlete Colin Jackson, and the master chef Gordon Ramsay."The books, generally written in the 20,000-word range, "are supposed to consist largely of one- and two-syllable words, short sentences and brief paragraphs. A new "batch of bite-sized books" will be released on World Book Day this Thursday.”
 
The biggest downside that I can see for our patrons is that the focus is going to be largely British with the possibility of some terms that might not click with some new or beginning readers, such as the word "holiday" rather than "vacation".  
 
This question comes about because my library is once again considering an adult new reader collection, but the ones from 10-15 years ago had boring covers and looked like "beginner" materials so they didn't circulate well.  If anyone has other recommendations for such materials from other vendors, please share!  
 
Thanks in advance!
Donna D. Andrews Adult Services Manager York County Library 138 E. Black St. PO Box 10032Rock Hill, SC 29731-0032 803-981-5844 (ph)803-981-5866 (fax)www.yclibrary.org
ycl-asm at hotmail.com
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