Ajmal, 7, is an avid fan of the InvestiGators comic books. They feature two crime-busting alligator secret agents called Mango and Brash. “It’s really funny,” he says, then outlines the plot of his current favourite in exhaustive detail.
Wren, 8, is making her way through Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. “I didn’t read lots when I was in year 1,” she says, but now she’s loving chapter books. A beaming boy called Siva, 8, who’s enjoying one of Neill Cameron’s Donut Squad series, adds: “I like chapter books and I like comic books.”
Nwanneka, 9, is loving Kid Normal by Greg James and Chris Smith. “I like it because there’s this 11-year-old called Murph and he ends up in a school where everybody has a superpower, except him,” she says.
Research has shown there is a reading for pleasure crisis among children in the UK, where enjoyment of books has fallen to its lowest level in two decades. Not so here at Christ Church primary, a tiny Church of England school tucked behind the maze of HS2 construction works in Camden, north London, where children fizz with excitement about books.
Last month the queen, who is the patron of the National Literacy Trust (NLT), visited to open a brand new library, funded by Bloomberg, in the school playground – the first to be opened in the government’s National Year of Reading, a UK-wide initiative aimed at reversing the decline in reading enjoyment.
From the outside, it looks like a large, well-kept shed. Open the doors and there are colourful shelves bursting with new books, toadstools to sit on, a leaf-patterned soft carpet and a hidey-hole reading den where children can curl up to read.
“We’ve got lots of different books,” Stina, 8, one of five new librarians, says proudly. The library is the culmination of years of work with the NLT to encourage reading at the school, which serves families living on nearby estates.
Ross Fox, a year 4 teacher and English lead at Christ Church, describes the numerous initiatives the school has introduced to encourage children to fall in love with books, including visits from theatre groups, storytellers and authors.
‘Schools in areas of high disadvantage must do everything they can to be book-rich’ … Ross Fox, the English lead at Christ Church school in Camden. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian
There are stay-and-read sessions for parents every last Friday in the month. There are “dress-up days” and “booknics” (picnics with stories) in nearby Regent’s Park. Meanwhile, parents are encouraged to sit in on phonics lessons in reception and year 1 so they can support their child’s reading at home.
Older children read to younger ones and there are bookchats – informal time for pupils to talk about what they are reading and what they recommend. “And we really protect story time so every class gets to hear an adult reading on a daily basis,” Fox says.
The new library has only added to the excitement. “In a world where many of us – children included – have so much available at our fingertips, books face more competition for our attention than ever before,” Fox adds.
“Given we have double the average percentage of children who qualify for free school meals here, it is vital that, whilst they are here with us at school, they are introduced to as much quality literature as possible. Schools in areas of high disadvantage must do everything they can to be book-rich.”
Christ Church primary school’s new library has nooks where children can retreat to read. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian
New research by Unison shows almost half of England’s library staff have lost their jobs since 2010, leaving communities without support after years of austerity and highlighting the challenges of getting more children reading.
Libraries in England employed 17,902 staff in 2010-11, but the number fell to 9,497 by 2024-25 – a loss of more than 8,000 full-time roles, according to the union’s research.
Alton Park junior school in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, is also bucking the trend and boosting reading for pleasure. Year 5 teacher Emma Preston – a passionate reader and collector of signed copies – stresses the importance of developing knowledge and enthusiasm for modern children’s literature among teachers, so they can then inspire pupils.
At the start of every weekly staff meeting, the first 10 minutes are devoted to discussing books. For the children, there is a reading treasure hunt in the summer, with activities laid out on blankets around the school field. In January there’s “hygge” reading day, when pupils snuggle up to read in classroom dens.
There’s “nonfiction November” and, in National Storytelling Week, the children practise reading a story aloud, which they then perform for their parents. “It was one of those moments,” says Preston. “When the children were reading I turned round and every parent in the hall was smiling.”
Preston’s year 5 children also recently enjoyed a visit to a nearby Penguin distribution centre, where they were given a tour and met the children’s author Iqbal Hussain, who gave them each a signed copy of his book. “It was like gold dust – their little faces,” Preston says.
The new library at Christ Church is the first to be opened as part of the government’s National Year of Reading scheme. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian
At George Green’s, a large secondary school and sixth form on the Isle of Dogs in east London, where more than 60% of pupils meet the threshold for additional pupil premium funding, literacy coordinator Sophie Harrison agrees that every teacher must see themselves as a reader.
“Our work began with [author and educator] Aidan Chambers’ belief that unless a school is staffed by people who enjoy books and enjoy talking to children about what they read, it is unlikely that they will be very successful in helping children to become readers,” she says.
“A central aim has been creating a school that reads, a community of readers where ‘book gossip’ – the everyday sharing of what we’re reading, loving, abandoning or recommending – happens across corridors, classrooms, and staff rooms. We’ve moved deliberately from isolated events to a sustained, everyday reading culture.”
There are book clubs for staff and students, reviews and recommendations, reading buddies across different year groups, whole‑school reading challenges, a school reading website, author events and a library with about 8,000 titles plus audiobooks, where stock is constantly replenished and repaired at the school’s book hospital.
“There’s no silver bullet,” says Harrison. “It’s about lots of little things building up the momentum. It’s like a giant book club.”
