‘A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read.’ Mark Twain
Dear all,
2026 has been designated as a National Year of Reading, a joint effort between the Department for Education and the National Literacy Trust to reinvigorate our relationship with books. Reading for pleasure is currently at a historic low – a recent study found that only one-third of children and young people aged eight to 18 enjoy reading in their spare time, with the prevalence of smartphones and social media in particular, cited as one of the main reasons for this decline.
In Monday’s assembly, we considered what makes an excellent children’s book and why the best are so timeless – a copy of our reading is below:
‘What makes a classic children’s book? Author Katherine Rundell suggests the following:
The first ingredient is the inclusion of big themes, such as justice or human mortality. The best children’s books embrace the fact that young people can handle big and challenging topics. E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web is a good example, by trusting that its readers can process the grief of Charlotte’s death.
The second is kinetic energy – the best books have what Rundell calls inner or outer movement that brings characters to the very edge of themselves. Perhaps the best example of this is in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, where Bilbo Baggins gains maturity and wisdom through an epic journey over time.
This links with ingredient three – strong characters. The best books feature protagonists, often non-conformists, who help readers find their own identity. Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women provides this through Jo March, a strong female character, who helps young readers grow into their own strength.
Fantasy and magic play an important role in children’s literature and often act as a vehicle to examine the difference between good and evil. The Harry Potter books illustrate this through the absorbing and nerve-wracking struggle against evil personified by Lord Voldemort.
Finally, many children’s books feature more light-hearted but no less important elements relating to food and jokes. Food is used to ground stories in reality, such as the exotic and enticing Turkish Delight that entices Edmund to betray his siblings in C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, or the enormous chocolate cake Bruce Bogtrotter is made to eat as a punishment by the Trunchbull in Roald Dahl’s Matilda. Meanwhile, jokes are often found in the observed idiosyncrasies of characters like Winnie the Pooh and his friends.
A major BBC survey recently invited people to vote for the Top 20 greatest children’s books of all time. At Number 1 is Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, while the other books mentioned above were also featured in the Top 20, along with classics such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.’
The author Mark Twain once said:
‘A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read.’
In Monday’s assembly, I encouraged all our students to see the summer holidays as an excellent opportunity to read and, whatever their preference – fiction, non-fiction, comedy, fantasy, or crime – to take some time over the coming weeks to do so.
Have a great weekend
Best wishes
Michael Bond
