For many of us, we grew up reading books. From the first stories read to us, to being able to buy your very own first book, you develop of love of reading from an early age. You probably can still remember some of the first books you ever read (Mine was a child-friendly rendition of Greek myths). These tales and stories that first started our love of reading become the bedrock of our passion of books to this day. It has been noted that an enjoyment of reading from a young age is also beneficial, with it pointed to as the single biggest indicator of a child’s future success (Borgonovi, 2011).

However, as we see statistics showing more children indicating that they do not enjoy reading for pleasure (Cole, et al., 2022), how do we provide the chance for them to develop a love of books?

With World Book Day 2024 on the horizon, which provides many children with their first book (World Book Day, 2023), Cassie Chadderton, Chief Executive of World Book Day, alongside the authors Tọlá Okogwu and Louie Stowell, and comic artist Vivian Truong, talked on how to achieve this during the Read Your Way session at the Bookseller Children’s conference. Namely, the way to bring more kids a love of reading is to let them choose, and when the books they want can’t be found, to fill the gap.

Data collected by World Book Day found that children were often discouraged or turned away from the books they chose to read. This developed into feeling shamed for their choice and put off by reading, meaning that even before most children have reached teenage years, they have developed a dislike for reading.

It is crucial to give kids a chance to choose their own books, to be able to read what they want to read. As the lead illustrator for World Book Day 2023, Vivian Truong expressed how she wanted to bring across the excitement she had being able to choose her own stories to read in her illustrations. Truong also pointed out that for neurodivergent kids, reading is often not stimulating enough and for them, graphic novels were where they were able to get back into reading.

Author Tọlá Okogwu, whose work includes the ‘Onyeka’ and ‘Daddy Do My Hair’ series, explained how her daughter inspired what she wrote. When asking her what books she wanted to see, and not expecting the reply of “romance with a side of mystery”, Okogwu said that she wanted to find the books that matched that. After a while, she noted the gaps and started writing the books that her daughter wanted to read, to fill that space.

Making sure that children have access to reading is important, but it is just as crucial that they enjoy what they read as well. The work of charities and initiatives such as World Book Day are an important gateway for many children to develop a joy of reading, and it is great to see they are looking not to just bring books to children but provide them with what will entertain and engage them. As said by Tọlá Okogwu “There is no such thing really as a reluctant reader, it’s they just haven’t found the right book yet”.

Bibliography

Borgonovi, F., 2011. PISA in Focus. Do students today read for pleasure?, Issue 8, pp. 1-2.

Cole, A., Brown, A., Clark, C. & Picton, I., 2022. Children and young people’s reading, London: National Literacy Trust.

World Book Day, 2023. World Book Day reveals 2024 £1/€1.50 books to encourage the joy of reading. [Online]
Available at: https://www.worldbookday.com/2023/09/world-book-day-reveals-2024-1-e1-50-books-to-encourage-the-joy-of-reading/#_ftn2
[Accessed 13th October 2023].