Reading For Fun
The Children's Laureate
The Children's Laureate is a well-known writer or illustrator of children's books, who is elected by a panel of judges to 'promote and encourage children's interest in books, reading and writing'.
For the 2019 to 2021 period, Cressida Cowell has been chosen as Children's Laureate. She is the bestselling author of the much loved 'How To Train Your Dragon' and 'The Wizards of Once' book series.
As part of Cressida's plans for her appointment to the role of Children’s Laureate, she wishes to ‘boost creative writing in schools and halt the decline of primary school libraries’. She also wants to encourage children to ‘read for the joy of it’ and to understand that it’s 'okay to put a book down if they’re not enjoying it’ - which is certainly sage advice. We look forward to seeing what she achieves in her new role and how this impacts our local libraries and schools.
Encouraging Children To Read For Fun - Inspiring The Next Generation
To help children learn to enjoy reading for fun, there are many useful resources and organisations who provide free information for promoting, encouraging and nurturing a love of reading.
Your Local Library
Library services across the country provide people with books and Internet access. Libraries are an ideal option to encourage reading for both children and adults - you can find books you like or want to try, take them away for a fortnight and then bring them back and try new ones. It’s free to use and you can often borrow several books at a time, sometimes even with an online renewal service to help you keep it for a little longer if no one else has requested that particular book.
100 Best Children’s Books - The Book Trust
The Book Trust is the UK’s largest reading charity and has been set up to help get children reading. They have compiled a list of the 100 best books for children from the last 100 years and have even broken them down into categories from 0 - 5 years up to 12 - 14 years. If your child is stuck on what to read next, perhaps this list will help to inspire them.
Bonus resources: They have also put together lots of helpful reading tips and advice which can be accessed here.
Top 10 Tips to Help Children Enjoy Reading - Pearson
The education company, and publishers, Pearson have spoken to experts and authors to put together their ‘Top 10 Tips’ to help turn children into bookworms. Their emphasis is on making reading fun and a natural part of family life.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re an avid reader or just starting out on your reading journey, there will be a book out there for you, you just need to find it. It's also important to mention that everyone is different and no two people will like the exact same authors, genres and styles of writing. That's not a bad thing - it just means there's more books to go around. You might also prefer to read graphic novels or listen to audiobooks - and that's okay too!
However you’re spending your summer, I hope you get to experience it in the company of a really good book.