Boost Children’s Reading for Pleasure

Publishers Association Launches Report to Combat Children's Reading Crisis

The latest research from the National Literary Trust showed children and young people’s enjoyment of reading has fallen to the lowest level in almost 20 years.

To help combat the crisis, the Publishers Association (PA) recently unveiled a report, "Turning the Page: A Plan to Revive Children's Enjoyment," at a House of Lords reception on April 28th. The report addresses the alarming decline in children's reading engagement and offers concrete recommendations to reverse this trend.

Key figures at the event included Baroness Rebuck (PA President), Perminder Mann (incoming CEO of Simon & Schuster International), and children's author Rob Biddulph.

The report's recommendations include:

• Having the Department for Education collect data on school library provision
• Implementing universal primary school library programmes
• Facilitating dialogue between publishers, charities, librarians, and other stakeholders
• Ensuring the national curriculum prioritises reading enjoyment alongside skill development
• Training teachers to confidently teach diverse texts
• Encouraging publishers to increase inclusive content

Industry leaders emphasised the critical importance of reading for pleasure as an indicator of children's future success and wellbeing. The report comes amid growing industry concern about declining reading rates, with National Literacy Trust research showing children's reading enjoyment has fallen to its lowest level in nearly two decades.

While this news is very saddening, at Little Book Factory we will be doing our utmost to get kids to enjoy both reading and writing. We believe in the joy of storytelling and we will inspire children nationwide to fall back in love with books.