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Summer Reading Challenge - Track My Read

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Summer Reading Challenge - Track My Read

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Log what you read over the summer using Track My Read!

Your login details were sent to your school email address. If you can't find them please email: library@bellerivefcj.org

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What will you read next?

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What will you read next?

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What will you read next?

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Scary stories for the whole family - gather round and listen, if you dare...

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Beware, these scary stories will transform you! The Creeping Hour is a horror anthology series hosted by the Creeps, three friends who listened to so many scary stories that they turned into monsters themselves.

Gather your whole family to shiver with fright as you listen to the terrifying tales of The Creeping Hour. Listen if you dare. Don't say we didn't warn you!

The Creeping Hour is a co-production of WGBH and Elie Lichtschein. It is appropriate for all ages and recommended for kids ages 8-12.

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Beware, these scary stories will transform you! The Creeping Hour is a horror anthology series hosted by the Creeps, three friends who listened to so many scary stories that they turned into monsters themselves.Gather your whole family to shiver with fright as you listen to the terrifying tales of The Creeping Hour.

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What will you read next?

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What will you read next?

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The perfect challenge for parents and teens! Sign up and pledge to read for just 30 minutes per week - together or alone - and feel the benefits this simple act brings!

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Sponsored by Kumon A little reading can go a long way. It connects us, sparks curiosity, boosts self-esteem, and supports mental…

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Tune into Book Riot for lively discussions about books, authors, and the latest in the literary world. Perfect for expanding your reading horizons.

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The Book Riot Podcast: Book News, Reviews, And More | Listen Now

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The Book Riot Podcast is a weekly news and talk show about what's new, cool, and worth talking about in the world of books and reading.

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Enter the BBC's 500 Words competition. Write a short story of 500 words or less and stand a chance to win fantastic prizes. Let your imagination soar!

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“Write a story you would love to read”. BBC’s 500 Words 2023 is the UK’s largest children’s writing competition for children aged 5-11.

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Have you taken part in our Reading Challenges in 2022-2023? Give us your feedback in a short survey and help us shape next year's challenges to offer the best support to you and your students.

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Competitions and Reading Champions Challenges | National Literacy Trust

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Each term we run exciting challenges and competitions available to all UK schools to encourage reading for pleasure, develop reading stamina and increase reading diversity.

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Summer Reading Challenge

Summer Reading Challenges: here's our page full of summer reading challenges to use in school, with book clubs, and at home. Use our free ideas and advice on how to develop an effective challenge that results in positive and long-term improvement in attitudes towards reading amongst your student body. Use these challenges throughout the summer holiday months to maintain your students' reading age and progress, or use these ideas at any point in the year to reinvigorate whole school reading or inspire reading for pleasure at home. Click the links below to go straight to our free and downloadable reading challenges for children and teens.
2024 "Two Reads and a Dream" Summer Reading Challenge 2023 "Booktious" Summer Reading Challenge 2022 "Choose, Change, Challenge" Summer Reading Challenge Reading challenges: resources and ideas

2024 School Reading List Summer Reading Challenge: Two Reads and a Dream

2024 is a time when many schools, teachers, families and children don't have money to spend on new books. So we've created a challenge that harnesses the book we already have, the stories we already know and the infectious enthusiasm for books we all have inside of us. This challenge doesn't cost anything, and we've designed it to try and avoid - as far as possible - downloads, printing, paper and pens. We hope that focussing on talking to each other, communicating and using word of mouth to spread a love for books costs little, is more friendly to the environment and builds coherent links within your school community.

Two Reads and a Dream

Pick two reads - books you love and which mean something to you. Challenge a friend, parent, teacher, or adult to read them.

Tell them about a dream book that you've never found. This might be a fantasy about trains, a story about a childhood with no exams, a fairy tale about a world with no weapons, a diary from the future, or a nonfiction book that explains something you are dying to know more about. Your dream book can be anything you'd love to read but have not yet seen or found.

Can they recommend a book that matches your dream and challenge you to read it? Maybe they can. Maybe they can't. Maybe they can recommend something else, or something close, or something even better?

Share your Two Reads and a Dream

Share widely in real life and - for adults - using the power of social media.

Teachers/parents/librarians/other adults can share all these recommendations and dreams on social media! Use the #srlreadingchallenge hashtag and/or tag @schoolreading on X.com.

Share on X

Let your favourite authors know! Tag your favourite book publishers and authors. Let them know about your dream book. Maybe one of them has already written your dream book. Maybe one of them will decide to write your dream book!

We'll try to like and share as many of your ideas and books as we can find! (As long as they're not inappropriate etc...)

Discuss your Two Reads and a Dream

Be eco-friendly. Try to talk about Two Reads and a Dream without using a pen or paper.

Talk or chat or message! Communicate to people you know about books!

Spread your infectious enthusiasm for reading!

Mighty oaks from little acorns grow

Strategies for teachers and librarians

Avoid printables because we all care about the planet.

Ask teachers, librarians, teaching assistants and other school staff to present or talk about two books that really speak to them.

Ask teachers to describe a book they would love to see and read.

Ask them to explain why, revealing their passion for books.

Encourage a wide range of genres and cross-curricular books and favourite niches.

Each student could submit two books that reflect their realities, interests and what they think is important.

Librarians could categorise these choices into genres and subject areas. This data could inform reading choices and cohort/class/tutor group / Key Stage interests.

Teachers, teaching assistants and librarians could use this information to present highly targeted book tasters, and assemblies, or create incredible children's and teen reading lists for your school that reflect your realities.

A journey of a thousand books begins with a single word

Practical ideas to use at school, at home or in your community

1. Children, parents, grandparents, and relatives book swap picnic
Organize a community picnic where everyone brings a book they've read and loved. At the picnic, attendees can swap books and discuss why they recommend them. This encourages sharing personal stories and recommendations in a relaxed, social setting.

2. Whispering Words Book Club
Start a travelling book club where members read a book and then pass it on to the next person with a handwritten note or handmade bookmark inside, sharing their thoughts and favourite parts. Each member adds their own note before passing it along, creating a chain of recommendations and personal insights.

3. School library scavenger book hunt
Create a scavenger hunt. Participants leave a book they love in each one and take a new one to read. They can also leave notes recommending the books they've deposited.

4. Team reading relay
Form teams where each member reads a different book. After finishing, they write a brief review and hand the book (and review) to the next team member, who then reads and adds their own review. This relay continues throughout the summer, creating a collection of peer reviews that can be shared at the end of the challenge.

5. Use the power of social media
Encourage participants to post about their current reads on social media, tagging friends they think would enjoy the book. Use a unique hashtag for your challenge to track recommendations and discussions.

6. Little Acorns and a Mighty Oak
Set up a book recommendation tree in your library where people can write book recommendations on paper leaves and add them to the tree. Visitors can pick a recommendation and leave their own.

7. Use Two Reads and a Dream with your Reading Buddies Program
Pair participants with reading buddies. Each pair selects books for each other to read over the summer, based on what they think their buddy would enjoy. They discuss their choices and the books once they've read them.

8. Mystery Book Jar Challenge
Create a book jar filled with slips of paper containing book titles or genres recommended by the participants. Each week, draw a title from the jar, and everyone tries to read it. Participants can meet weekly or bi-weekly to discuss their thoughts and experiences with the book.

2023 School Reading List Summer Reading Challenge: Booktious!

Booktious! Here's our free-to-download printable card game for summer reading challenges! ' Booktious ' introduces youngsters to new books and shines a light on high-quality and recently published novels for children and young adults. Booktious is infectious and uses a compelling, engaging, and addictive format with simple-to-follow gameplay to spread the reading bug. Readers will find diverse, inclusive, and lesser-known works, as well as learn interesting facts about the world of literature. It's ideal for your summer reading challenge, whether at home, school, in libraries, or as part of a book group.

If you can't find a local summer reading challenge, the Booktious card game is great fun to try at home. Keep a checklist of all the new books your child has read and challenge family members to read new and fascinating stories! The Booktious card game also includes many ideas for teachers, librarians, and parents to help expose children and teens to wonderful new novels all year round!

All of the books can be purchased as individual titles, class sets, or book packs using the links in the article below.
KS1 Game KS2 Game KS3 Game KS4 Game

As an affiliate of Bookshop.org we will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

KS1 Booktious card game
Download from OneDrive Download from Dropbox Download from Google Drive
The KS1 edition includes a range of inspiring and exciting picture books and short chapter books by Herve Tullet, Alex Falase-Koya, Hélène Druvert, Charlotte Guillain, Ian Eagleton, Michael Rosen, Joseph Coelho & Richard Johnson, Poonam Mistry, Nadia Shireen, Kate Wakeling, Olaf Falafel, Eric Fan & Terry Fan, Julia Kuo, Stephanie Blake, Yoko Mori, Kat Patrick, Shannon Stocker, Chloe Savage, John Agard, Catherine Rayner, Sam Usher, Emma Carlisle, Alex Milway, Monika Singh Gangotra, JJ Bola & Clara Anganuzzi, Kaye Umansky, Steve Smallman, James Carter, Joseph Coelho, Antoinette Portis, Catherine Ward & Karin Littlewood, Barry Falls and Clotilde Perrin.

Buy the books featured in the KS1 Booktious card game

How to buy the books featured in the Booktious card game KS1 edition. Use these links to buy individual titles, class sets of books or complete packs of all of the 34 books featured.

KS2 Booktious card game

The KS2 edition includes a diverse range of empowering and thought-provoking reads by Daniel Thompson, Victoria Jamieson & Omar Mohamed, Ravena Guron, Lisa Thompson, Simon James Green, Ian Eagleton, Peter Lantos, Brian Selznick, A.F. Steadman, Tola Okogwu, Polly Ho-Yen, A.F. Harrold, M. G. Leonard, Ele Fountain, SF Said, Katya Balen, Tom Palmer, Eloise Williams, Hilary McKay, Dan Smith, Maz Evans, Jennifer Killick, Jasbinder Bilan, Sabine Adeyinka, Kory Merritt, Richard Pickard, Cheryl Diane Parkinson, Michal Skibinski, Liz Flanagan, Lindsay Galvin, Brian Moses, Katherine Applegate and Laura Noakes.

Download from OneDrive Download from Dropbox Download from Google Drive

Buy the books featured in the KS2 Booktious card game

How to buy the books featured in the Booktious card game KS2 edition. Use these links to buy individual titles, class sets of books or complete packs of all of the 34 books featured.

KS3 Booktious card game
Download from OneDrive Download from Dropbox Download from Google Drive
The KS3 edition includes a range of gripping, prescient and resonating reads by Laura Dockrill, Terri Libenson, John van de Ruit, Karen M. McManus, Alwyn Hamilton, Lauren James, Libby Scott & Rebecca Westcott, Sarah Crossan, Holly Bourne, Robin Gow, Lize Meddings, Ruta Sepetys, Tom Hoyle, Tamsin Winter, Lily Bailey, Brigid Kemmerer, Kesia Lupo, Mariko Tamaki & Jillian Tamaki, Leyla Suzan, Anthony Kessel, Christopher Edge, Ben Martynoga, Alex Bell, Sophie Cameron, Ravena Guron, Gerard Siggins, Laura Dockrill, Sally Christie, Tillie Walden, Kenneth Oppel, Aneesa Marufu, Tasha Harrison and A. M. Dassu.

Buy the books featured in the KS3 Booktious card game

How to buy the books featured in the Booktious card game KS3 edition. Use these links to buy individual titles, class sets of books or complete packs of all of the 34 books featured.

KS4 Booktious card game
Download from OneDrive Download from Dropbox Download from Google Drive
The KS4 edition includes a range of topical, powerful add rollicking good reads by Won-pyung Sohn, James Goodhand, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock, Christine Pillainayagam, Amara Sage, Jennifer Dugan, Cynthia Murphy, Simon James Green, Holly Jackson, Josh Silver, Nick Brooks, Holly Jackson, Tillie Cole, Eve Ainsworth, Orlagh Collins, Yusei Matsui, Erik J. Brown, Adam Silvera, Sophie McKenzie, M. A. Bennett, Tia Fisher, Faridah Abike-Iyimide, Phil Stamper, Sara Barnard, K. L. Walther, Leigh Bardugo, Kathleen Glasgow, K. L. Kettle, Patrice Lawrence, Clara Kumagai, Susan Dennard and Ben Oliver.

Buy the books featured in the KS4 Booktious card game

How to buy the books featured in the Booktious card game KS4 edition. Use these links to buy individual titles, class sets of books or complete packs of all of the 34 books featured.

2023 Downloadable resources

Downloadable our 2023 Summer Reading Challenge posters for primary and secondary schools that can be enlarged up to A3 size, printed and used on school websites, social media, intranets, featured in newsletters and utilised in many other situations. Click below to view and download the posters.

2022 School Reading List Summer Reading Challenge

Here's our 2022 summer reading challenge. This challenge is designed to be simple and accessible, yet powerful. It invites students to make positive reading choices and share how the written word can change how they think about their lives and the world. It also invites pupils to challenge others - friends, classmates, family members, teachers and the wider community - to want to read it for themselves.

Choose: Children and young adults should be encouraged to choose what they want to read. It might be a book, a magazine, a letter, or an article online. It could be anything with words.
Change: Tell the world how reading it moved you, how it changed the way you think, how it helped you as a person or how it encouraged you to take action.
Challenge: Spread the word and influence by challenging others to read it too - either face to face, in school, or for older pupils, online.
How much guidance is provided regarding book choices, how to share and how to challenge others is up to you as the teacher.
2022 Downloadable resources

Downloadable our 2022 Summer Reading Challenge posters in portrait and landscape format that can be enlarged up to A3 size, printed and used on school websites, social media, intranets, featured in newsletters and utilised in many other situations with a Creative Commons license. Click below to view and download the posters.

Reading challenges: resources and ideas

Reading challenge ideas for teachers

Choosing books

Sharing the reading experience

Short speeches can be powerful and rewarding and can be integrated into English lessons, library periods or form time.

Short videos can be produced as homework, as part of ICT or during English curriculum time.

PowerPoints are ideal for 1st-person presentations, sharing on intranets or converting into animated shorts.

Library displays, working walls and posters will be seen and experienced by students every day.

Bookmark reviews - install pupil voice directly inside the book itself.

The school website - utilise your school's internet presence to promote reading.

Social media stories, reels and video clips - share your school's passion for books with the wider school community.

Challenge others to want to read

In school assemblies or class assemblies.

During form time.

Within library sessions or English lessons.

Through written or media features on your school website, intranet, VLE, or school newsletter.

Via school social media accounts.

Video resources for KS2

In this clip, nine-year-old Luke Bakic delivers a TED talk about his passion for reading and why he believes it is so important.

Video resources for KS3

In this short film, a teacher reads from Shelf Life: Stories by the Book by YA writer Gary Paulsen to help explain the power of books.

Video resources for KS4

In this talking head, actress Drew Barrymore, famous for the film ET, explains how reading changed her life at the age of 14.

Video resources for KS5

In this clip, YouTuber, influencer, university undergraduate, and passionate literature lover Jack Edwards outlines the books that changed his life.

What are your reading challenge goals?

Reading challenges should be accessible and unlimited. If your school already operates a reading challenge, ask the following questions:

What is the purpose of your reading challenge?

Will your reading challenge appeal to all your students?

Is your challenge accessible and realistic?

What outcomes are you hoping for?

The moment a reading challenge requires students to read more and more, or to read unrealistically beyond their interests, or to read only a particular topic, the challenge becomes less accessible and more limited; and in terms of developing a genuine reading culture for all - less likely to succeed.

Avoid challenges that preach to the converted or lack accessibility for children

Do book bingos, exhaustive tick-lists, 100+ book challenges, read-until-you-drop marathons or never-ending book journeys have a lasting effect once they have been completed? Do children even remember them after a term? Will they change a school's culture?

For any challenge you consider introducing to your school, bear in mind that not every child wants to read a considerable number of books ( yet) and not every child has access to lots of books at home.

Picture the start of the autumn term. During the first assembly, a group of children receive recognition for the sheer number of books they've read over the summer. It's impressive, and it's encouraging for them at that moment; but does it inspire the other 90% of the watching school population? And does the buzz of a certificate - one amongst many - have a significant or lasting motivational effect?

Summer reading challenges and holiday catch-up programs have existed for over 100 years and were first pioneered in the United States in the 1890s. However, it is arguable that a lot of them have changed little to adapt to today's students and technology. Many schools wheel out the annual reading bingo photocopiable because 'That's the way we've always done it!' Or, 'I found it for free on the internet', or 'someone sent it to us in the post as marketing and it's all been done for us'. Consider this - who were those schemes developed for? Were they created to benefit your pupils or to benefit an outside organisation? Will printing out 800 of them effect real change or will it simply help to euthanase your photocopier? Do such schemes encourage any new enthusiasm for reading, or do they simply preach to and praise the converted?

And consider this. Are there better ways to promote reading, do you have a strategy you can tailor to the specific requirements of your pupil body, and most importantly, does your school have a strategy to encourage all your students to want to read?

What to look for in an effective summer reading challenge

A good reading challenge will not only promote reading and encourage reading for pleasure, but it will encourage a reading culture to spread like a virus throughout your school. The best propagators of enthusiasm for reading are your students - so it's essential that a reading challenge encourages children and teens to not only be enthusiastic about what they've read, but to spread their passion amongst their friends and classmates, and challenge those parts of the student body that teachers cannot reach to want to read.

All reading, and responses to reading, should be celebrated. Reading doesn't simply involve books. Newspapers, magazines, comics, the internet, emails, messages, timetables, brochures, travel plans, receipts, plans, research, puzzles, diaries, letters, instructions, and many more forms of writing will impact children and teens during the summer holiday as much, if not more, than fiction and literature.

Ensure your school reading challenge offers all children a choice. Allow them to pick what form of writing inspired them to read. Offer all your children an opportunity to convey how and why that writing inspired them. Genuine enthusiasm and recommendations by their peers are always more likely to connect and persuade. Adults can guide and recommend books, but it's the students that really drive a successful reading-for-pleasure culture.

A great reading challenge idea is one that is simple, clear and can be adapted to meet the needs of your pupils. A successful reading challenge needs to embody student ownership and empower student choice regarding reading material.

For ready-to-go reading challenge ideas, have a look at our summer reading challenge; or peruse one of the many long-running and successful strategies such as the Scottish Book Trust's excellent First Minister's Reading Challenge, or the Reading Agency's annual challenge.

Transition reading challenge ideas

Transition is a great opportunity to reset negative attitudes towards reading and instil new positivity and greater expectations. Getting students to talk about books is a brilliant way to start off the autumn term. Consider embedding a reading challenge into your transition process. Challenges and book talks can be:

A good icebreaker for year 7 inductions sessions.

A great way to start library sessions at the start of each year.

A perfect way to help new form groups to get to know each other.

Convincing young people that personal reading is useful and worthwhile

Consider how reading can provide students with shortcuts and experience for dealing with real events. Young people love to watch TikTok and YouTube and find out what people are doing, what friends have done, how to master a particular skill, how to deal with a situation and ultimately how to get to where they want to be in life.

Both fiction and nonfiction can provide these answers, and recent YA TikTok bestsellers have tended to include familiar situations and characters that pupils can relate to, whether it be bullying, relationships; or dealing with school, family, or mental health issues. With TikTok in particular, word-of-mouth recommendations have fueled the enthusiasm (and sales) for titles such as They Both Die At The End by Adam Silvera, We Were Liars by E Lockhart, The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo and The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.

Convincing your school community

The best person to sell a child or teen on the power of reading is always another child or teen. Putting this at the heart of your reading challenge will go a long way to ensuring long-term improvements in your school's reading culture.

Have a look at the persuasive video resources in our summer challenge ideas for KS2, KS3, KS4 and KS5 below.

And finally, if you come up against in-house opposition from number-crunching SLT types demanding empirical evidence, remind them of the less than seminal work of J. Evans Pritchard, PhD and play this clip from Dead Poets Society in your staff meeting.

Empower your pupils to read. Carpe Diem!

Sharing online and spreading the word

Tag us or share on social media using the #SRLchallenge hashtag and follow how other schools are using the reading challenge. View #SRLchallenge on Twitter, #SRLchallenge on Instagram, #SRLchallenge on Facebook and #SRLchallenge on Tiktok. We'll like, retweet, share and feature a selection each week throughout the summer and early autumn.

If you found our summer reading challenge ideas guide useful, you might also want to look at our picks of the best books coming out in summer 2024, our monthly school book club suggestions and our list of 20 young adult books to read during the summer.

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Summer reading challenge - how to develop a school or home based challenge that leads to positive and long-term reading engagement.

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Take a look at some of the fabulous goodies that can be won in our free to enter prize draws. You are welcome to enter, or alternatively, get your children to sign up to The Kids Zone and they can pick and choose what they'd like to enter! Saves you a job! ;-)

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Free To Enter Competitions From LoveReading4Kids

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Take a look at some of the fabulous goodies that can be won in our free to enter prize draws. You are welcome to enter, or alternatively, get your children to sign up to The Kids Zone and they can pick and choose what they'd like to enter! Saves you a job!

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The Guardian's Books podcast features author interviews, book discussions, and literary debates. Great for deepening your understanding of various texts.

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The Guardian Books podcast | Books | The Guardian

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The Guardian Books podcast is our weekly look at the world of books, presented by Claire Armitstead, Richard Lea and Sian Cain. In-depth interviews with authors from all over the world, discussions and investigations make this the perfect companion for readers and writers alike

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Top Tips for Developing Your Child's Reading Habits

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Top Tips for Developing Your Child's Reading Habits

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Supporting Your Child's Progress with reading

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Supporting Your Child's Progress with reading

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Classicly offers free books online from public domain to read on the modern devices including PC, Laptop, Kindle, Tablet, iPad and Mobile phone. Our HTML5 reader let you read books online free with simple browser. You can also download the books in Kindle, ePub, and PDF formats for offline reading. Reading books at Classicly is absolutely free as the copyright of the books have been already expired and the manuscript is available for public access without any cost.

HTML5 Reader Capabilities:.

Our HTML5 reading application can take your reading comfort to the next level with ability to customize on the fly. And the best part is your personalized settings remain unchanged on your subsequent visits unless other vise you change it.

Responsive Design: Read on any screen size (PC, Tablet & Mobile)

TOC Navigation: Quickly access any chapter with a click

Font Size: Personalize the font with 5 various sizes for your reading comfort

Pagination: Flip, Swipe, Scroll in any direction to change page

Go to Any Page: Move to any page of the book quickly

Download PDF Versions

You can download PDF versions of the books which can be read either in web browser or can be read through professional PDF reading apps like Adobe. With Adobe reader you can even ask the application to read the book aloud for you instead of viewing it which is almost listening to an audiobook.

Download Kindle Versions

You can download Kindle versions of the books (.azw3 format) which can be read in your Kindle reader. You can also download a free kindle reading app from Amazon to read the book in your Desktop.

Download Audiobooks

If you want to listen to books rather reading, we have links to audiobooks in MP3 format. All audiobooks are narrated by a large community of volunteers from all over the world and maintained by Librivox.

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Classicly offers free books online from public domain to read on the modern devices including PC, Laptop, Kindle, Tablet, iPad and Mobile phone. Our HTML5 reader let you read books online free with simple browser. You can also download the books in Kindle, ePub, and PDF formats for offline reading.

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Using longitudinal census data to look at more than 43,000 students, aged 10 to 11 and then again when they were 13 to 14, the research provides substantial evidence that pupils who enjoy reading high-quality books daily score higher in tests.

The average marks of pupils who read books rose by 0.22 points overall, which is the equivalent of 3 months' worth of additional secondary school academic growth.

The study demonstrated no similar advantage for children reading daily newspapers, comics or magazines, and only marginal benefits from short stories.

The findings have important implications for parents, teachers and policymakers, and the international research team is recommending that young people devote their reading time solely to books.

"Although three months' worth of progress may sound comparatively small to some people, it equates to more than 10% of the three academic secondary school years measured - from when these young people are aged 11 years old to 14, which we know is a hugely developmental period," explains co-author Professor John Jerrim, from the IOE.

"In an increasingly digital world, it's important that young people are encouraged to find time to read a good book.

"Other less complex and less engaging forms of reading are unlikely to bring the same benefits for their cognitive development, and shouldn't be counted as part of their reading time.

"This is particularly important for low-achievers, where any association is likely to be strongest."

Lead researcher Luis Alejandro Lopez-Agudo, from the University of Malaga, added: "Reading is a fundamental skill that plays a key part in all our lives.

"Our results provide further evidence that it's not only whether young people read or not that matters - but also what they read."

The amount of time children spend reading is already understood to help develop their literacy skills. This ability increases through practice and by trying longer and more challenging texts.

Few studies though have focused on whether the type of material children choose influences their achievements at school.

This study, looking at pupils in Spain, attempted to establish whether a link exists between literacy and mathematics scores and the type of material children look at in their spare time, as well as how long they spend doing this. Comics, short stories, books, newspapers and magazines were the texts included in the research.

The researchers used data from a census carried out by the Andalusian Agency of Education Assessment. This included questionnaire responses completed during 2008 to 2009 by 10 to 11-year-olds, and from those aged 13 to 14 during 2011 and 2012.

Children's attitudes towards school were considered along with prior achievement levels. Parents were also asked about their own reading habits and how involved they were in their child's education.

The study also highlighted the reading patterns across different groups of children. It showed:

Girls seem to read short stories, books and newspapers more frequently than boys, while the opposite holds true for comics and magazines.

Young people from advantaged backgrounds read all the text types more frequently than those from disadvantaged homes.

High-achieving students (according to their 5th grade test scores) were more likely to read tales/short novels and books compared to low-achieving students, though with little difference in terms of reading comics, newspapers and magazines.

'Does it matter what children read? New evidence using longitudinal census data from Spain' was published in the peer-reviewed journal Oxford Review of Education.

Media contact

Rowan Walker, UCL Media Relations
T: +44 (0)20 3108 8515 / +44 (0)7769 141 006
E: rowan.walker@ucl.ac.uk

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Free Teen & Young Adult eBooks at BookFusion Store

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Bookly is the perfect app for tracking your reading progress, reaching your goals, and maintaining an organized catalog of all your read books! It can help you with personalized stats during reading sessions in real-time, keeping you motivated and helping improve your reading habits.

Bookly has tons of cool features fit for everyone, from novice bookworms to diligent academics, helping you set a reading routine that helps you crush all your reading goals. Here's how Bookly gets you into the habit of reading more:

Track Your Reading Time:

Just start the timer when you want to read - Bookly will take care of the rest. Not only will you track your reading speed, but you'll also know exactly how long a book will take to finish.

And the best part is that you'll get a personalized report with your reading stats, so you can see how you're improving in real-time.

Keep Your Reading Focus:

Forget about reading slumps or mid-year freakout tags!

By having a clear idea of real-time progress, you can improve your reading skills and further build your reading habit.

Each time you manage to complete a reading goal, you'll be able to unlock badges, achievements, and other goodies in the app.

More than a Book Tracker:

Bookly is the little book tracking app with a lot to do: it can organize your bookshelf, take notes, create reports, and help you save quotes, all while reaching your goals and participating in our regular reading challenges - the Bookly Readathons!

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Bookly is the perfect book tracker to monitor reading progress! It helps you read more books, keeps you motivated, and builds your daily reading habits.

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Download the Sora app to read ebooks and listen to audiobooks for FREE! Find our school and use your school username to login.

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Open a world of reading. Try Sora, the new reading app for students, by OverDrive.

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READ Liverpool - Borrow ebooks and audiobooks through Liverpool Libraries 

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READ Liverpool - Borrow ebooks and audiobooks through Liverpool Libraries 

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Register online to start enjoying your next read now!

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Liverpool Libraries and Information Service

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Liverpool Libraries and Information Service

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Browse, borrow, and enjoy titles from the Liverpool Libraries and Information Service digital collection.

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Read ebooks and listen to audiobooks for FREE with your Liverpool Libraries membership!

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Download the Libby App: ebooks & audiobooks FREE from your library

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Bring the library to you! Free digital books, magazines and more! Available for iOS and Android devices.

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Listen to some great stories for FREE!

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Welcome to World Book Day’s World of Stories, where you can bring story time to life with audiobooks of your favourite books FOR FREE.