The Problem
The Problem: Children reject reading
‘In the UK, the number of children and young people who report enjoying reading is now at its lowest level since 2005, with 48.9% report only enjoying it ‘a bit’ or ‘not at all. ’
Cole et al, 2022 in Cremin & Scholes 2023 Reading for pleasure
Why have children fallen out of love with reading?
There are many demands on the attention of the current generation of children, arguably more than in any other time period in history. It is easy to lay the blame for their fall out of love with reading on technology. We should at least look at what has happened to books that might explain some of this trend.
Less money for books
Are fewer books available to children now than in previous generations? There are certainly more books ‘out there’ but it does seem that they are harder to get hold of. There is no statutory requirement to have a school library and no ring fencing of funding. Recent pressure on school funding has been huge and has hit school libraries hard. Public libraries have been unable to step in due to funding pressures on local councils. Parents have been unable to fill the gap, facing an escalating cost of living. And the impact of these trends has been felt most by the disadvantaged.
Funding pressures have also had an impact on the accessibility of books. Libraries are closing, and those which have been retained are open for fewer hours. Despite the cornucopia of books being published for children, it does feel like these books are increasingly out of reach for many readers.
“Only one fifth of schools provide access to the reading area at all times (21%), and one in twenty (6%) say there is never open access (access during free times and before and after school). Just half of schools provide access to these spaces at lunchtime (50%) or breaktime (49%).”
Great School Libraries report, 2023
Book discovery is broken
Is the range of books available to children worse now then in previous generations? Arguably the choice is much better now than before, with publishers offering more diversity in the books they publish. The problem seems to be more that children are unaware that these books exist. Knowledge of what is out there has been squeezed by declining access to librarians (within school and public libraries), and experienced teachers leaving the profession.
That search and discovery in children’s books is broken is reflected in the dominance of celebrity authors in the book market. Publishers rely on such authors ‘celebrity status’ to market new titles, and booksellers devote shelf space accordingly. As a result readers only ‘see’ this limited selection.
‘Our current eco-system of children’s fiction means what is readily available does tend to be the Walliams of the world…'[Children need] access to a wide variety of books so that they can see characters like themselves; it is not a mystery how to get kids to read, there is really good evidence of how to make a kid fall wildly in love with books.’
Katherine Rundell, The Times, 2023.