Kids are not enjoying reading as much as they used to. So… what is the publishing industry doing about this? 

On September 30th 2024, brilliant actors across the British publishing industry joined The Bookseller’s Children’s Conference to talk about children’s books and find solutions to the reading crisis among children.

Reading for enjoyment was a common theme throughout most of the panels, conversations and presentations. As the percentage of children who enjoy reading has seen an alarming decrease in recent years, authors, publishers, booksellers and many more sat down to talk about tangible solutions. Here is what they discussed.

Having storytime at school

Nurturing a love for reading in younger people can be challenging when less than 50% of adults read for their own enjoyment and most parents consider reading as a skill rather than a leisurely activity. But if parents are not showing their own children that reading can be entertaining, Alison David says that schools can (and should) take over for them. Storytime at school is a wonderful initiative that has already shown great improvement in children’s reading enjoyment everywhere it was implemented.

Across Year 4 for example the reading age went up on average by one year, just by one term of listening to stories frequently.

– Alison David, 2024.

Letting kids read what they want

Children need to understand that reading can be fun and not simply a chore they have to do for school. Reading aloud to children is part of the solution but it is even more effective when children get a say in what they read or what is being read to them. As Debbie Hicks kept repeating, “it’s the hook, not the book.” Just like adults, kids can make their own choices if we give them the opportunity.

Teaming up with the government

With a new government comes new opportunities. All throughout the conference, attendees were invited to sign an open letter asking the new Prime Minister to place reading for pleasure at the forefront of government priorities. The hope is that they will work together to create a “national reading for pleasure plan” with, for instance, policies that will get more funding for schools and libraries, especially with the added layer of cost-of-living crisis. To this day, it has already been signed by over 1000 people working in the industry.


We’re all the game changers. It’s not just the teachers. It’s not just the parents. It’s all of us. Get a book out!

– Sanjee de Silva, 2024.

Connecting reading ecosystems

Every child is different and faces their own challenges. Reading to them at school only goes so far if they don’t have access to books at home and can’t get access to books from their local library. Tackling the reading crisis with a holistic approach is primordial: all the reading ecosystems need to be working together as a whole to create a united supportive reading environment for children to thrive again.

It takes a village to raise children and it is no surprise that it will take every player in the publishing industry and beyond to bring children back to the fun side of reading, but the benefits of reading are worth the effort. There is still hope for a future generation of avid readers.

Image Credit: Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

References

Cummins, C. et al. 2024. ‘The reading crisis: time for solutions’, The Bookseller’s Children’s Conference. London. [live-streamed 30 September 2024]

Hicks, D. 2024. Crisis intervention, The Bookseller. [Online] Available at: https://www.thebookseller.com/comment/crisis-intervention [accessed 17 October 2024]

McNally, R. 2024. ‘Winning kids back’, The Bookseller’s Children’s Conference. London. [live-streamed 30 September 2024]

National Literacy Trust. 2023. Children and young people’s access to books and educational devices at home during the cost-of-living crisis. [Online] Available at: https://literacytrust.org.uk/research-services/research-reports/children-young-people-book-access-cost-of-living/ [accessed 17 October 2024]

School Library Association. 2024. Study Of More Than 1.2 Million Students Reveals Children Are Reading Less Than Last Year. [Online] Available at: https://www.sla.org.uk/Services/Public/News/Articles/2024/reading-recession-study-2024.aspx [accessed 17 October 2024]

Spanoudi, M. 2024. Publishing industry calls on government to create plan to boost reading for pleasure, The Bookseller. [Online] Available at: https://www.thebookseller.com/news/publishing-industry-calls-on-government-to-create-plan-to-boost-reading-for-pleasure [accessed 17 October 2024]