Reading for enjoyment & reluctant readers
The National Literacy Trust’s 2024 research report, taken from the results of their annual literacy survey of over 76,000 UK children and young people, records the worst levels in nearly 20 years. Children and young people’s enjoyment of reading is at ‘crisis point’ according to their findings, falling drastically in the last year alone. ‘Reluctant readers’ are becoming the norm rather than the exception. Some research points towards digital distractions as influencing this rapid decline. Other possible factors include busy after-school schedules and time demands on young people (I know we had to stop some clubs for Miss 6 as it was just becoming far too much - she loved them all but there needed to be more downtime!); little time within a tightly packed curriculum to allow for reading solely for pleasure; and for some, limited access to books at home. (PSA: If you are reading this and haven’t got a library card please stop reading immediately and go get one - libraries are the best places!)
Parents and carers at my school often ask what they can do to help improve their child's reading. It's tricky as young people with identifications of dyslexia, for example, will be exhausted after a day of school and all the words!! Sometimes the last thing they want to do is be forced to read more and even gentle persuasion to pick up a book may be met with hostility and backfire entirely. So it's a balance, between giving them time to wind down and switch off in a low-pressure non-wordy environment and quietly encouraging reading for pleasure knowing it can have a positive impact on not just academic progress but their overall wellbeing.
Things that might help include you being a reading role model in the house (do your children ever see the grown ups around them reading?) you or others regularly reading aloud to them (not just for the wee ones, older kids often still love this!), shared/paired reading (click here to see a parents guide by Gloucestershire County Council), audio books (we love our Yoto player!), text to speech technology and some nights knowing it's best to skip reading completely (that includes homework, some times you just have to know it's not the time. My advice to parents is to leave a wee note for the teacher on the homework or on a post-it note saying it couldn’t be done this week - don’t spend 2 hours and a screaming match on homework! It’s not worth it.)
I always advise parents, that when it comes to what to read the answer is anything their kids want to read! However, some genres that might support the more reluctant of readers are…
Graphic novels: Begone stigma - graphic novels are visually engaging and less overwhelming than your typical prose while still building comprehension skills and vocabulary.
Wordless picture books: Accessible, encourage imagination and storytelling while also helping a young person to equate reading books with relaxation, wonder and joy!
Choose your own adventure books: Part book, part game. Highly interactive. High re-readability factor. You can choose, roll or spin your fate with these books!
Finally, Hi-Lo texts (high interest, low ability/reading age): The content of these books are age appropriate but they are edited to suit a lower reading age. Scottish based Barrington Stoke are one of the publishers we use a lot in school. They have interest ages (IA) between 5 - teens and reading ages (RA) between 6 - 9. Barrington Stoke advise that if you aren’t sure of your child’s reading age “ask them to look at the samples and cover any words they can’t read with a finger. If they cover more than five words per page, assume it is too difficult for them right now”
All books with images below are available to order at Moonlight Rainbow Books. Currently we do not have Barrington Stoke books on the shop page but if you’re interested drop us an email as we can have them ordered in for you.
