AS A teacher of English for 29 years writer Joseph Delaney recalls that the girls were, on balance, better students than the boys.

And yet, as he has discovered during the last few years as a best-selling author, it may just be a question of which books children are expected to read.

His own Spook’s series of 11 novels, which has sold more than 3m copies since it was first published in 2004, seems to attract readers of both sexes and all ages.

But, according to Sonia Benster, owner of the Children’s Bookshop in Lindley, it is the boys who love his work the most.

Joseph agrees: “Parents have told me their boys enjoy my books.

“I’ve also had a lot of lads in their early 20s who have said to me that they never read until they discovered Spook’s.”

His winning formula, which caused a bidding war between two publishing houses, is the story of a boy – a left-handed seventh son of a seventh son – who is destined to become an apprentice to the Spook, a sort of magical ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ figure who protects ordinary people from supernatural boggarts, witches and ghostly goings on.

In the teen horror genre already crowded with books and films Joseph’s writing clearly has the X factor for young readers. In fact, its potential as a blockbuster has already been spotted and his first book, The Spook’s Apprentice, is being made into an action film.

Twice a year – in June and October – the 67-year-old author, who hails from Lancashire, goes out to meet his public.

He recently toured a number of schools in Yorkshire, including Lindley Juniors in Huddersfield and Rastrick High.

I caught up with him at a book signing in the Children’s Bookshop, Lindley, where enthusiastic fans were patiently queuing to meet him.

Joseph, who now lives on the Fylde coast near Blackpool, was always a keen reader himself but turned out to be an educational late starter, taking his A levels at night school and going to university at the age of 27.

“My mum used to take us on the bus to Preston and make us go into the library,’’ he said. “I used to get two books a week. The first one I ever read was Treasure Island. I liked to read fantasy and folk tales – the sort of thing I now write.”

He believes that children today have a much greater choice of reading material aimed especially at them. “When I was at school all the writers we read were dead,’’ he said. “In my first teaching job I was sent to the stock cupboard and there wasn’t a lot to choose from for children.

“But now there are lots of authors who will actually go out into schools and talk to the pupils.”

He’s also pleased that the national curriculum now includes the work of living authors.

“There were some books we had to teach that the teachers themselves didn’t like so it was difficult to get the pupils enthusiastic about them,’’ he said. “It’s a bit like banging your head against a wall.”

Joseph was already married and a father by the time he began his degree studies in English, sociology and history at Lancaster University – his wife Marie was expecting twins – so his ambitions to become a writer were on a back burner for many years.

“I did dabble and write things but they got rejected and I never finished them,’’ he said. “I had a job and a family so it was difficult.

“As a teacher you are always tired at the end of the day so I’d just collapse on the sofa in the evenings.”

It was only when he decided to use the other end of the day – early mornings – that his Spook’s series took shape.

He explained: “My wife was a post lady and got up very early in the morning so I started getting up at 6am and writing until 7.30am. I found I could write a book a year that way.”

His big break came in 2002 when his agent got a buyer for The Spook’s Apprentice. He recently published the 11th book in the series – there are also two spin-offs – and the series is destined to run until the final, 13th, book comes out in October 2013.

Sadly, Joseph’s wife Marie only lived to see his success as an author for a few years. She died suddenly from ovarian cancer in 2007 at the age of just 58. All of Joseph’s books are dedicated to her.

Their three children –two sons and a daughter – have given him nine grandchildren. Many of them are now Spook’s readers and proud of their grandfather’s celebrity status.

His eldest son Stephen is also a writer and is collaborating on a play-reader version of the first book.

The movie of The Spook’s Apprentice, which has been entitled The Seventh Son, is being directed by Sergei Bodorov and will star Jeff Bridges as the Spook.

Joseph has been to visit the film set in Vancouver, Canada, where the movie is being made, has met the screen star and seen the script.

He added: “I’ve been sworn to secrecy. All I can say is that it’s action packed.”

YOUSUF SAJJAD,10, is working his way through the Spook’s series.

He found out about them from his school friend Joe Swiffen, also 10, who is a confirmed Delaney fan.

What is it about the books that excites them enough to turn out on a cold autumn evening to meet the author?

“I like the action in them and they’re scary,” said Yousuf.

His mum, Mary Counihan, is delighted that he’s reading fiction. “For Yousuf books have to be more factual whereas this stimulates their imagination.

“He’s got his twin sister reading them now and she likes them as well.”

Yousuf and his sister, Humerah, from Birkby, attend Holywell Green Primary School and are regular visitors to book shops.

“In these days of computers a lot of children don’t appreciate what it is to own a book,” said Mary.

“We’ve met several authors – Eoin Colfer, Terry Deary and others – and it’s great for the children to be able to talk to them and get their books signed. You can’t get someone to sign a Kindle.”

Another new Delaney fan from Huddersfield, Behram Asfand-e-Yar,11, from Lindley (pictured below) was eager to give his views on Spook’s.

“I’ve just read a bit of one but so far I really like it,’’ he said. “There’s quite a lot of action and he keeps the suspense going.”

Like many boys, however, Behram. a pupil at Lindley Junior school, says he prefers to read non fiction, but he’s open to new books and likes to write his own stories and poems.

He had met Joseph Delaney when the author visited his school and was so impressed that he dragged his family out to the book signing a few hours later.