Can reading really improve your life?

Analysis

BBC

Government, Politics, News

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 November 2023

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Most educational research now suggests that reading for pleasure is strongly linked to a child’s future outcome, educational success, and even wellbeing. But the latest studies also show that reading for pleasure is at its lowest level for twenty years.

Why has this happened in a country that's produced more successful children's books than any other? From Paddington, to Harry Potter, the Chronicles of Narnia to Alice in Wonderland, and of course, the Gruffalo, the list is vast. Is a lack of access to school and local libraries the problem, too few books at home or the rise of phones, tablets and game consoles?

What can schools, government, the media and parents do to help foster a love of reading that could help children throughout their lives? Author and former Children's Laureate Julia Donaldson investigates.

Presenter: Julia Donaldson Producer: Ravi Naik Editor: Clare Fordham

Contributors: Frank Cottrell-Boyce, author and screenwriter Joseph Coelho, 2022-24 Children’s Laureate, author and poet Teresa Cremin, Professor of Education (Literacy), the Open University Joanna Prior CEO Pan Macmillan Publishing, and Chair of Trustees at the National Literacy Trust Laura Patel, head of literacy, Sandhill View Academy school, Sunderland Leia Sands, librarian and committee member, the Great School Libraries campaign Ben Lawrence, arts and culture editor, The Daily Telegraph Sonia Thompson, headteacher, St Matthews C of E primary school, Birmingham

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.6	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:08.4	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable
0:14.3	experts and genuinely engaging voices. What you may not know is that the BBC
0:20.4	makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:24.6	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
0:29.7	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.
0:36.0	Thank you for listening to this edition of Analysis, the podcast that looks at the ideas behind the news.
0:42.0	In this episode, the former children's
0:44.4	laureate and author Julia Donaldson explores the very real benefits of
0:48.5	reading for pleasure. I opened a book and in ice road now nobody confide to me. I've left my chair, my house, my road, my town and my world behind me.
1:00.0	Of all delectable islands, Neverland is the snuggest. It's not large and sprawly,
1:10.6	you know with boring distances between one adventure and the next it's nicely crammed
1:16.2	when you play at it by day with the tables and chairs it's not a bit frightening
1:20.9	but in the two minutes before you go to sleep it is real.
1:25.0	You've just heard the opening verse of my poem I opened a book
1:32.0	followed by a reading from Peter Pam which was part of the
1:36.4	opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games. That ceremony celebrated the things that Britain is best at and most famous for,
1:45.2	including the NHS, James Bond and children's books.
1:51.6	But are children's books celebrated enough and can they change lives?
1:57.0	I'm Julie Donaldson and I'm going to be talking to children, fellow writers, librarians, teachers and academics about the benefits of reading for pleasure,
2:07.0	whether it's in decline, and if so what we can do to revive it.
	...

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