I have fond memories my time spent in my school’s library growing up. Whether it was to browse at some of the school’s array of books, or to just to take some time away from the bustling primary school classrooms and playgrounds, it was a safe and quiet space for students to use. It wasn’t until I attended The Bookseller Children’s Conference, that I discovered just how many children in England do not have the same experience as I did. In fact, 44% of schools in the UK’s most disadvantaged communities do not have a library at all[1].

At the conference, Social Impact Director of Penguin Random House UK, Siena Parker, spoke about the chronic lack of investment that primary school libraries across the country are suffering from. Schools often do not have the time, funding, or expertise to maintain the space and buy new and more inclusive books. 

She went on to discuss World of Stories, an initiative that Penguin Random House’s Children’s imprint, Puffin, created in partnership with the National Literacy Trust in 2018. The scheme aims to address some of the key challenges facing reading for pleasure in schools. Research released by the National Literacy Trust in September this year found that only 43% of 8 to 18-year-olds enjoy reading in their free time, the lowest recorded since 2005[2]. 

I heard these statistics being referenced multiple times throughout the day, along with a discussion around the importance of reading in childhood, which has been displayed through various studies in recent years. For example, data collected in a 2013 found that children who read for enjoyment are more likely excel in areas such as spelling and maths[3]. As well as this, in 2019 the National Literacy Trust also found that children who had above expected reading skills had better mental wellbeing[4]. 

World of Stories works with schools in disadvantaged areas to transform their libraries and provides 400 free Puffin books, as well as 100 books from partner publishers. The scheme also offers bespoke training for participants, enabling them to create a create a more creative and welcoming reading environment for pupils. 

So far 534 schools have participated, meaning that over 200,000 pupils have been reached. 100% of participating teachers have said that they feel better equipped to engage with pupils to inspire reading for pleasure and would recommend the scheme to other schools[5]. 

Now with additional funding from Arts Council England and JPMorgan Chase, Parker expressed her hopes that the campaign can reach many more schools and children across the country, and even revealed that there have been some early conversations with the government, which could see the scheme reach its goal of providing support for schools on a national level. The success of this initiative so far just goes to show how the publishing industry can make a difference to the lives of young people and restore a passion for reading within communities. 

Bibliography:

[1] World of Stories (2023) Home [Online] Available at: https://www.worldofstories.co.uk [Date accessed: 4 October 2023]

[2] Clark, C. et al (2023), Children and young people’s reading in 2023 [Online] Available at:https://nlt.cdn.ngo/media/documents/Reading_trends_2023.pdf [Date accessed: 4 October 2023]

[3] Sullivan, A. & Brown, M. (2013) Social inequalities in cognitive scores at age 16: The role of reading [Online] Available at: https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/CLS-WP-2013-10-.pdf [Date accessed: 4 October 2023]

[4] National Literacy Trust (2019) Mental wellbeing, reading and writing [Online] Available at: https://literacytrust.org.uk/research-services/research-reports/mental-wellbeing-reading-and-writing/ [Date accessed: 4 October 2023]

[5] The Bookseller Children’s Conference (2023) Case Study: World of Stories. London, 2 October 2023 

Image from: https://www.worldofstories.co.uk [Accessed: 4 October 2023]