On the shelf in my son’s bedroom is a row of picture books that once belonged to me. Sometimes, I like to look at them, and be immediately transported back to my own childhood. There’s The Three Wonderful Beggars, by Sally Scott, a retelling of the Serbian fairytale; and The Whales’ Song, by Dyan Sheldon and Gary Blythe, about a little girl who sneaks out at night in the hope of hearing the sea creatures call to one another.
These books conjured vivid worlds for me, and there’s something magical about being able to tap into that still, all these years later. This week, I read an interesting report about the so-called “crisis” in kids’ literacy, which, while worrying, is somewhat overblown. The real concern, it seems, is not to do with test scores measuring the ability to read, but the plummeting number of children reading for pleasure. In 2020, only 17% of US 13-year-olds read for fun every day, compared with 27% in 2012. The numbers in the UK are higher, but also on a downward trajectory. The National Literacy Trust found 35% of eight- to 18-year-olds said they regularly read for pleasure in 2024, which is the lowest figure since measurements began two decades ago.
