The National Literacy Trust recently carried out a survey of over 50k children in the United Kingdom aged between nine and 18 years old, which revealed nearly 400,000 young people in the UK don’t own a single book.
Just over 6% of the 56,000 who took part admitted to not having any books at home, leading to an estimate that this is the case for 383,774 children in Britain. Those from disadvantaged backgrounds were the most likely to be in this group.
Other findings show that children who do own books are six times more likely to read above the expected level for their age. They are also three times more likely to enjoy reading and twice as likely to say it’s cool.
This Christmas, the National Literacy Trust is asking for donations in order for them to give books to young people.
This PDF resource includes this article, as well as accompanying activity ideas:
- Hold a class discussion on whether we even need to own books? There are libraries and ebooks that save on paper, after all. But of course, not everyone can afford a device for ebooks, and screens before bed has a negative effect on sleep.
- What’s a good book you’ve read recently? Write a review of it to say why you liked it.
- Who’s your favourite author. Why not write them a letter to show how much you appreciate and enjoy their work? Think of a few interesting questions to ask them about their books, characters or themselves.
- Research what the nation’s favourite 10 children’s books are. Make a list, and show which ones, if any, you have read.
To find out more about The Week Junior and to download its free resources, please go to schools.theweekjunior.co.uk.
Find the whole range of free Topical Tuesday resources here.
