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!
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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.
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Research has shown that enjoyment of reading is key to future success. However, we also live in a digital age, where our pupils spend a vast amount of their time consuming information via digital and social media platforms. Although print is important, access to digital books on a range of devices can give children more opportunities to read.
A picture book is classed as one in which a narrative is combined with a visual element. This can take the form of wordless storybooks to graphic novels. Traditionally, there has been an assumption that these books are primarily geared towards younger readers, but increasingly, teachers and parents are seeing the benefit to academic attainment, mental wellbeing and inspiring reluctant readers to engage and take joy from reading for all aged children. And indeed, for adults.
The chicken or the egg. What comes first, reading or writing? In this blog Ben Connor discusses how reading supports successful writing.