Prioritise shared reading for pleasure

Recently departed Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce has highlighted the importance of reading with children

Recently departed Waterstone’s Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce has called for urgent action to reverse the decline in parents reading to children. A BookTrust survey found that children aged up to 8 who reported liking or loving reading rose from 66 to 80% between 2021 and 2025, while daily shared reading among families dropped from 60 to 49%.

The research was released to coincide with the Cottrell-Boyce’s Laureate Lecture at London’s Royal Institution shortly before his tenure came to an end. He used his lecture to call for urgent action to support reading among families and highlighted work being done around the UK to support families to read together.

He praised work being done by Kirby Children and Families Hub to support parents to boost their confidence in reading aloud and called for greater support for public libraries to encourage reading among families. During his tenure, Cottrell-Boyce launched BookTrust’s Reading Rights Campaign, calling for reading to be recognised as a universal right for all children. He will remain with the charity as a Reading Rights ambassador.

“I urge everyone to join our movement to ensure that every child has daily access to books and shared reading in their first seven years of life,” said Cottrell-Boyce. “It’s so important for their happiness, mental health, empathy, and future opportunity.”

Director of the Institute for the Science of Early Years and Youth (ISEY) at UEL in Stratford, Professor Sam Wass, also spoke at the lecture. “There’s a huge body of scientific evidence to show how shared reading supports children’s language development, attention and wellbeing,” he said. “It shows that the act of reading itself, that warm back-and-forth between an adult and a child, can matter as much as the words on the page.”

“Frank has spent the last two years making an extraordinary case for reading as a right, not a privilege,” added Annie Crombie, chief executive of BookTrust. “Our research shows why this matters now.”

BookTrust booktrust.org.uk

Further reading: Doorstep Library – reading champions