{"id":39509,"date":"2025-12-29T19:50:44","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T19:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=39509"},"modified":"2025-12-29T19:50:44","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T19:50:44","slug":"the-guardian-view-on-the-national-year-of-reading-2026-time-to-start-a-healthy-habit-for-life-editorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=39509","title":{"rendered":"The Guardian view on the National Year of Reading 2026: time to start a healthy habit for life | Editorial"},"content":{"rendered":"

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R<\/span>eading to children from a young age leads to greater happiness, educational success, empathy and social mobility \u2013 no wonder the government wants to encourage everyone to do it more. To this end, next year has been decreed the National Year of Reading 2026. It couldn\u2019t be more timely.<\/p>\n

Reading is in crisis. Picking up a book for pleasure among children and young people in the UK is at its lowest level in 20 years. According to the National Literacy Trust, only one in three eight- to 18-year\u2011olds enjoy reading in their spare time \u2013 a 36% drop in two decades. The decline is worst among teenage boys and\u00a0the poorest children. A quarter of pupils left\u00a0primary school in England this year without adequate reading skills. All of this should be no surprise given that half of adults in the UK don\u2019t read\u00a0regularly themselves and research shows that many parents don\u2019t enjoy reading to their children.<\/p>\n

Reading, like storytelling itself, is a gift handed from\u00a0generation to generation. If the link breaks, we risk losing the skills altogether. This is where initiatives\u00a0like the National Year of Reading 2026 \u2013 which will distribute 72,000 new books to children with the\u00a0greatest need for them \u2013 come in.<\/p>\n

The first Children\u2019s Booker prize, aimed at readers\u00a0aged eight to 12, will be launched in 2026 and\u00a0awarded\u00a0annually from 2027. The\u00a0inaugural award will be chaired by the children\u2019s laureate Frank\u00a0Cottrell\u2011Boyce and\u00a0include young judges on the panel. The shortlisted\u00a0and winning titles will be given to thousands of children. Aiming even younger, the Cultural Policy Unit thinktank is calling for library cards to be automatically issued to\u00a0all newborn babies.<\/p>\n

A child\u2019s first 1,000 days are vital: shared reading\u00a0is key to cognitive and emotional development. It is not just a question of literacy, but\u00a0of bonding and attachment. This can be a magical time at the end of the day when child and adult come together \u201cand the walls [become] the world all around\u201d, as Maurice Sendak\u2019s classic picture book has it. This is how we learn. And nothing on a screen can replicate these benefits.<\/p>\n

That a quarter of three- and four-year-olds in the UK now own a smartphone, and half of under-13s are on social media, is clearly a big part of the problem. But it is not the whole story. Child poverty is at a record high. Austerity has forced local libraries to close. Long working hours, solo parenting, health issues or different-aged siblings can make a bedtime story seem an impossible hurdle for parents. For too many, books are unaffordable and inaccessible.<\/p>\n

Any initiative to foster new readers is a cause for celebration. But warm words must be backed up with action and funding. Free books and library cards for babies are useless without adult readers\u00a0and well-resourced libraries. Rachel Reeves has promised to ensure that every primary school has a library. This should be a given, along with trained librarians, less overstretched teachers,\u00a0improved provision for children with special educational needs and support for new parents and babies.<\/p>\n

As Margaret Atwood writes in her poem Spelling: \u201cA word after a word after a word is power.\u201d We owe\u00a0it to children to give them this power. Make a\u00a0new year resolution to read more: to yourself, to\u00a0a\u00a0friend, to a child.<\/p>\n