(MADRID) - Holidaymakers reading on the beaches of Spain this summer have been getting more than they bargained for: characters from some of the most celebrated novels have been literally leaping off the page.

Spain has this summer undertaken a "read on the beach" campaign in order to encourage its citizens to get the bookworm habit.

Everyone from Spain's own Don Quixote, the comic hero of Cervantes' classic, to Mary Poppins, the magical nanny from the P. L. Travers children's books, have been spotted strolling the beaches of Spain.

Sunbathers at Zarautz in the northern Basque region were the first to be treated. Quixote appeared in full armour with his trusty sidekick Sancho Panza in tow, as the campaign got into its stride late July.

The colourful scheme was dreamed up the National Federation of Publishers (FGEE) and supported by Spain's culture ministry to encourage beachgoers to indulge in some intellectual fare even as they slap on the suncream.

Some people might wonder why anyone would need encouraging.

But Antonio Maria Avila, executive director of the FGEE points to statistics that show the average Spaniard is less inclined to turn the pages than his European neighbours.

A recent EU survey said only 57 percent of Spaniards described themselves as regular readers while 29 percent said they "never" indulged. A study carried out by the FGEE in mid-2006 was even less encouraging: it put the proportion of self-declared "non-readers" at 40 percent.

The campaign, he says, is about encouraging occasional readers, and even pulling in those who do not currently read at all.

"Spain only really got to grips with literacy in the 1970s," Avila told AFP. The older generation often just got by with the basics.

"They knew how to draw their pension and three or four other things, but you couldn't say they could really read. But who reads most today? The young, and that is grounds for optimism," said Avila.

Avila confesses that the Spanish tradition of eating late and then going to bed has hindered the idea of parents reading to young children before lights out.

"The trouble is the Spanish day doesn't lend itself to that. Those who do have that advantage are children with reading parents. And in Spain, people tend to spend much of their free time chilling in the street!"

"What we want to do is show that entertainment and time spent with the family is compatible with reading, which is necessary for any country's social and economic development," says Avila.

That is why a dozen literary characters have taken to Spain's beaches, acting out passages of the novels from which they sprang.

There is Little Red Riding Hood, though no word of the wolf; and Pinocchio, better known perhaps from the Walt Disney cartoon.

And for lovers of action, there is Captain Alatriste, the swashbuckling hero of Arturo Perez-Reverte's historical adventures. The Alatriste books, which have been translated into several languages, are such a hit in Spain they even issued a set of stamps in his honour.

To encourage even the most reticent reader, the characters hand out free gifts including bookmarks, beachballs, beach tennis kits -- even inflatable head-rests with sunshades.

The literary tour of Spain's beaches has covered 5,000 kilometres (3,100 miles), taking in dozens of popular resorts including Barcelona, Lloret de Mar, Salou and Benidorm.

And neighbouring Portugal has also got in on the act, with the municipal authorities in the southern city of Albufeira launching a similar campaign.

They have laid on a mobile library so that sunbathers can stock up with reading material without even having to shake the sand from their feet.

For those who are already reading in Spain, the bestsellers in recent years include Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code," J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "Memoria de mis putas tristes" (Memories of my melancholy whores).

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