Reading - Moving from Endurance to Enjoyment

A new report on children’s reading habits from Farshore/HarperCollins highlights a 'perfect storm' of three trends that are contributing to the decline in reading for pleasure, particularly for the youngest readers. The first of these is the decline in the number of children being read to. Only 41% of 0-4 year-olds and 36% of 5-7 year-olds are read to frequently at home, while the number of children aged 5-10 who experience a daily story time at school has dropped from 31% in 2012 to 24% in 2024. The second trend is an increase in the number of children that see reading as a subject to learn rather than something enjoyable to do, and the third is the ever-present lure of screen-based entertainment.

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