A commonality between all book industry participants, whether that’s publishers, authors or readers, is an understanding of the importance of getting children into reading; most importantly, reading for pleasure. There is an abundance of research on the subject that has proven time and again that reading for pleasure is the single biggest indicator of a child’s future success. This one factor can have more of an impact than their family circumstances, their parents’ educational background or even their current family income. Cassie Chadderton, Chief Executive Officer of World Book Day, recently discussed how this relates to the mission of World Book Day at the Bookseller’s Children’s Conference, saying “The purpose of World Book Day is to encourage every child to read for pleasure because reading for pleasure is their superpower. It’s the thing that makes the most difference to a child’s future circumstances.” The most important task for all stakeholders in this conversation is to now find a way to make this superpower more accessible for all children and not just those from affluent backgrounds. 

 

“… Reading for pleasure is their superpower. It’s the thing that makes the most difference to a child’s future circumstances”

Cassie Chadderton, World Book Day

While World Book Day is a UNESCO-designated worldwide celebration of books and reading, the UK and Ireland have focused their efforts on bringing books to children, more specifically, levelling the playing field of social classes to make reading for pleasure accessible to children of all backgrounds. To accomplish this, they’ve collaborated with many important players in the UK publishing and bookselling industry to create a variety of activities and initiatives around encouraging reading for pleasure. One such initiative is the £1 book lineup, which features a child-selected list of books across all reading levels that are available on World Book Day for only £1. To participate, children are given a token which allows them to select one of the £1 books from the lineup to take home as their own. One of the main indicators of whether a child reads for pleasure is if they have access to books at home, so giving children this opportunity is essential to expanding the reach of reading across all social classes. In a study done by World Book Day and the National Literacy Trust, “1 in 5 children who receive free school meals will say that the World Book Day book is the first they’ve had of their own at home”, further emphasizing the importance of programs like this. Take a moment to browse through the 2023 £1 book selections to get an idea of what children have selected for this upcoming year.

Photo by Amanda Kirsh

What’s Next?

While expanding children’s access to books is important to the end goal of increasing reading for pleasure habits, World Book Day wants to add a new focus on changing attitudes around reading through some behavioural and attitudinal nudges. In discussing their strategy for World Book Days to come, Chadderton said she’s looking to position it as a “mass movement to change attitudes and behaviours and create generations of readers to come”.  

The next World Book Day is set for March 2nd, 2023, so use this time to reflect upon the impact you can have and how you can assist in bringing books to all children and changing the attitudes around reading for pleasure. After all, this is their future we’re talking about.