RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Rio’s poor neighbourhoods are used to seeing heavily armed police burst in to search for drug traffickers, but this time the invaders came bearing only books.

Bruno Silva de Fonseca, 21, was one of a group of storytellers and book lovers from the University of Rio de Janeiro who visited the Babilonia favela near Copacabana recently to win over residents.

Entering a damp, dark alley, Fonseca reached the house of Aurea Elis da Silva, 12, where he was greeted by the sound of a blaring television.

But when Fonseca began to recite a children’s poem, even the family dog “Floquinho” (“Little Snowflake”) seemed to calm down.

“I love the rhymes,” Aurea said.

Favelas are not alone in being infertile ground for readers in Brazil. Almost eight per cent in the country of 204 million are fully illiterate and almost 18 per cent functionally illiterate.

A survey by IBOPE (Brazilian Institute of Public Opinion & Statistics) in 2011 found that 85 per cent of Brazilians watch television during their time off, but only 28 per cent read the press or books. The poll said 68 per cent of Brazilians had never seen their father reading and only 63 per cent their mother.

In the Babilonia favela, Ana Livia Farias, 11, admitted to being part of those statistics.

“I don’t like reading. I prefer watching TV,” she said.

However, when the bookworm brigade gave her a chance to browse through several wooden boxes of donated books, she seemed intrigued. “I am going to read!” she said.

Julia Sabina, also 11, picked up “Minha Querida Assombracao” (“My Dear Haunted House”) by Reginaldo Prandi and “O Beco de Sete Facadas” (“The Alleyway of Seven Cuts”) by Carlos Mero.

“A friend knew I wanted to read and set them aside. I have started the first one today. I am hooked on reading, I devour books,” she said.

Books for the future

On this occasion, the team visited 450 houses in the favela. But the books outreach programme, known in its Brazilian acronym as FLUPP, works throughout Rio favelas, including in those targeted by “pacification” police attempting to squeeze out deeply embedded drug gangs.

As well as providing books, FLUPP has encouraged new authors such as Raquel de Oliveira, who has just published an autobiographical novel based on her marriage to a drug trafficking boss killed by police.

“There is a black, feminist and gay literature in the suburbs and that’s important because it brings new voices and renews Brazilian literature in general,” said one of the project’s founders, Ecio Salles.

Before leaving 12-year-old Aurea’s home, Bruno gave her a book and got a promise in return.

“This evening, I will read to my sister,” the girl said, although she admitted the television is still her favourite.