Research has revealed time and time again that reading for pleasure supports our young learners to become better readers, and is integral in fostering life skills. What's more, reading for just 10 minutes every day can improve your mental wellbeing.
On this page, find out more about the benefits of reading for pleasure, and see what resources we have available to support you to encourage your pupils to read for pleasure.
We’re excited to announce the launch of the Using ebooks to support reading for pleasure in 2023 – A survey of primary school teachers report that we’ve worked on in association with the National Literacy Trust.
Bug Club Reading Corner is our brand-new online library of books for primary school-aged children.
Children can choose books according to their interests, encouraging them to read for pleasure. There are lots of exciting topics and children search for the books they want to read. Stories are written by a range of diverse authors and illustrators, and feature exciting, representative characters who live in all sorts of places and go on all sorts of adventures.
Every child will find books they love in Bug Club Reading Corner!
Play
To accompany Bug Club Reading Corner, we have created reading for pleasure professional development in partnership with Teresa Cremin and her team at The Open University. There are six exciting new modules, designed to be delivered by a member of your staff in an hour-long staff meeting or the sessions can be combined on an INSET day.
These modules are:
1. Reading for Pleasure changes lives
2. Teacher's knowledge of children's literature and other texts
3. Teacher's knowledge of children as readers
4. Reading aloud and informal book talk
5. Reading time and the social reading environment
6. Reading teachers and building communities of readers
The PD is free to download from ActiveLearn Primary if you have a subscription to our Bug Club eBook Library.
Join Alec Williams - trainer, speaker and storyteller - as he discusses 10 key principles for encouraging Reading for Pleasure from his book Get Everyone Reading: A primer on reading for pleasure written for the School Libraries Association.
This video is for primary school teachers.
Play
The beloved British author of The Gruffalo, Julia Donaldson, shares the “failure” that inspired Pearson’s Plays to Read series of 48 plays written by herself and other top children’s authors.
The fact that reading is a key component to a fulfilling life is not often the source of contest, and indeed, the level of evidence in its favour is nearly irrefutable.
Classroom cliff hangers and library legends
Once upon a time, when chickens still had teeth, and horses still had feathers...
Have I got your attention? Stories do that, too, and this post is about storytelling and reading aloud. Stories grab and enthral, they stimulate thinking, they play with language, they celebrate listening – and they’re a high-octane way to motivate children, and model reading for pleasure.
All your pupils need the experience of stories (whether told from memory, read aloud, or on audio books), especially if they’re struggling with reading. They need to be reminded of the delights to come when they become more fluent.
By itself, reading is potentially a quiet and isolating activity. Reading groups, author events and online book chats are challenging this, but speaking aloud challenges the stereotype even more, bringing a buzz to books in class, and making it ‘loud in the library!’
