Technophobe Grannies who are still working out how to use their DVD player had better watch out. Soon they may find themselves under pressure to learn to send text messages. Of all the suggestions made by children who entered the Small Actions; Big Change competition, launched in Body&Soul last October, Teach Your Granny To Text has been chosen as the winner.

The competition, organised by the social change group, We Are What We Do (WAWWD), had a straightforward brief: come up with a simple action that if done by a million people would change the world. The winner, Erica Ritchie, was inspired by her efforts to teach her own Granny to text. Now the ten-year-old's idea is to form the centrepiece of a national campaign and has provided the title for WAWWD's new book, containing 29 more illustrated actions that young people believe can really make a difference.

Published on October 2, the book will be given out to every school in England by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, as well being available in shops. That it has already pre-sold its first print run of 100,000 will be of no surprise to anyone familiar with WAWWD's previous projects. In 2004 it released the best-selling book Change the World for a Fiver, followed by the much-coveted Anya Hindmarch “I'm Not a Plastic Bag”. The new campaign includes plans for a tea towel embroidered with granny-friendly text talk.

The judges, including celebrities Ronnie Corbett and Dermot O'Leary, whittled the 1,500 entries down to 30. The result is a charming book, aimed at 8 to 12-year-olds, full of pages that children can fill in and personalise. There are contributions from the bestselling children's author, Anthony Horowitz, who illustrates the action “Read with a Pal” with a previously unpublished short story; a page designed by Martin Handford, the illustrator behind Where's Wally?; and online feedback opportunities (wearewhatwedo.org ).

The book's producer, Nick Stanhope, says the aim is to equip children with the means to change the world with a simple set of actions. For adults, it provides an insight into how young people see the world and how they think it could be made better.

One smile at a time

Anthony Opoku, 17, lives in East London and goes to St Angela's and St Bonaventure's Sixth Form School. He is one of 200 young speakers, all of whom have been given public-speaking training by WAWWD so that they can visit primary schools and spread the word about the Teach Your Granny to Text campaign.

“What's good about the book is that the actions have come from children, not adults. It works for everyone, even people my age,” he says. “When I visited St Anthony's Primary School in Forest Gate, East London, I chose the action ‘Make Someone Smile' to talk about. It's a simple thing and my message was that if you make one person smile, that person will feel happier, so they will smile at other people, so your action has a knock-on effect. It was a bit daunting at first to stand up in a room full of people. But it got easier.”

Nick Stanhope, 28, is the book's producer. After stints as a youth worker in South London and teaching A-level history, as well as raising £60,000 for Anti-Slavery International by cycling with two friends from Cape Town to London, Stanhope joined WAWWD last year as its head of education. This year, he has been visiting schools across the UK, talking about the actions pupils submitted for Small Actions; Big Change and making sure that the voice in the book represented the 5,000 children who have been involved. “They were ... incredibly well-informed and keen to involve not just themselves, but also adults with actions such as ‘Don't Start a War' and ‘Walk Your Dad'.

“We Are What We Do removes the usual barriers to involvement, such as it being complicated or uncool. Teach Your Granny To Text looks good but also, you can open the book and find something to do immediately. After the success of Change the World for a Fiver, and then the Anya Hindmarch bag, we weren't sure where the movement would go next, but the children have come up trumps, giving us a world-changing set of actions.”

A winning idea

Erica Ritchie, aged 10, came up with her winning idea to improve the world after trying to teach her Granny to text.

Erica, who lives in Kingston, southwest London, and goes to school at St John the Baptist School, Hampton Wick, said: “My mother told me about the Small Actions; Big Change competition. I looked up how to enter it on the website with my younger brother Euan, 8. Then my Granny came to stay - she lives in Aberdeen, Scotland - which gave me the idea.

“She kept asking my Mum ‘Will you teach me to text?' and my Mum kept saying no. Then she asked me to teach her, so I did, but she still can't do it. She finds it hard making a word by pressing the button lots of times to reach the right letter. My other Granny, who also lives in Scotland, can text already. Even her mother, my Great-Granny, does it. It's funny receiving a text from an old person because of the things they say in it.

“I was surprised that my action won the competition but it's a good thing if you teach people to send text messages: it's cheaper than ringing and it's very quick. In the book, I like the tea towel page best - that's a really good idea, and it's the one my action is on.”

Book offer

Teach Your Granny to Text (Short Books and Walker Books, £10) is available at £9, free p&p. Phone 0870 1608080; timesonline.co.uk/booksfirstbuy

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