By Kayla Brown

What does reading for pleasure mean? Adults have unlimited choice in reading what they want, when they want, without consequence. Though not every adult is a reader. But what if there was some way to increase the number of adult readers? There is a key demographic that needs more attention. Children readers. While a massive market, not every child has access to the stories they are looking for.  

  Recently I had the pleasure of attending The Bookseller’s Children’s Conference. As it was my first exposure to children’s publishing, I was unsure what to expect. I assumed that I would hear about popular children’s storybooks or perhaps the delicate way in which publishers must market to children and their caregivers. What I did not expect to hear about was how children felt that they were being constrained in what they could read and feeling less inclined to read. One of the ways in which the UK is attempting to combat this disinclination is through World Book Day. Held yearly in March, every school-aged child receives a £1/£1.50 voucher to use on a book—any book they want. Special emphasis is placed on school-age children in areas of high deprivation and low literacy rates.1

From Left to Right: Louie Stowell, Tọlá Okogwu, Vivan Truong, and Chadderton at the ‘Read Your Way’ Panel.

This initiative was discussed at length in the panel “Read Your Way: Children’s Choice at the Heart of World Book Day” by Cassie Chadderton, World Book Day CEO, Vivian Truong, the official illustrator for World Book Day 2024, and authors Tọlá Okogwu and Louie Stowell. All four extolled the importance of allowing children to choose what they want to read and ensuring that all children have access to the stories they want to read. Reading for pleasure, according to World Book Day, is one of the top indicators of a child’s success in the future, meaning that a lack of interest in reading is highly detrimental. Encouraging children to read at a young age helps build up critical language skills and helps build up internal motivation to read (Ece 2019)3. Methods to encourage their reading habits include reading to them regularly, having easy access to books, allowing them to choose what they want to read, setting aside time for them to read, having trusted help in finding a book and making reading fun overall. World Book Day has seen success with these strategies. According to Cassie Chadderton, 77% of school-age children participated in last year’s World Book Day and redeemed their vouchers for a new book.2

Having the right mindset and listening to child readers, everyone in the book community can help make reading pleasurable for children again. We can all work together to ensure that there is a wide range of stories that fit every desire and help increase diversity in every publisher’s lists. Whether that be a romantic mystery like Tọlá Okogwu’s daughter was looking for. Or ensuring that there is no stigma associated with graphic novel-inspired chapter books, like the Loki series that Louie Stowell creates. All forms of reading should be encouraged, and as the “Read Your Way” panel shows, reading is important for life.

Bibliography

  1. Brown, L. (2023) Books by Okogwu, Biddulph, and Stowell on World Book Day 2024 £1 book list [Online] Available at: https://www.thebookseller.com/news/books-by-okogwu-biddulph-and-stowell-on-world-book-day-2024-1-book-list. [Date Accessed: 10 October 202].
  2. Chadderton, C. et al (2023) Read Your Way: Children’s Choice at the Heart of World Book Day [Online], The Bookseller. Available at: https://www.thebookseller.com/childrens-conference-programme/read-your-way-childrens-choice-at-the-heart-of-world-book-day [Date Accessed: 02 October 2023].
  3. Ece Demir, L.Ö., et al. (2019) ‘Parents’ early book reading to children: Relation to children’s later language and literacy outcomes controlling for other parent language input’, Developmental Science [Online], 22(3). Available at: https://web-p-ebscohost-com.napier.idm.oclc.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=46577af7-b6c9-4f26-b801-defbb6751dc2%40redis [Date Accessed: 10 October 202].
  4. Truong, V. (2023) World Book Day Save the Date. Campaign Logo. Available at: https://www.worldbookday.com/ [Date Accessed: 13 October 2023]
  5. World Book Day (2023) About Us [Online] Available at: https://www.worldbookday.com/about-us/#:~:text=We%20will%20next%20be%20celebrating,a%20book%20of%20their%20own. [Date Accessed: 07 October 202].
  6. Worldbookdaysocial (2023) Brillant Day at Children’s Conference. Instagram post. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx8brtmMcI6/ [Date Accessed: 13 October 2023]