Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce has warned that the reading levels of young people are at a “crisis point” as he pushed the Government to give every child access to books as a health and wellbeing intervention.
The 65-year-old screenwriter and author, known for penning three sequels to Ian Fleming’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as well as writing the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, is set to make a speech at the Reading Rights Summit at Liverpool’s St George’s Hall on Wednesday.
Cottrell-Boyce will tell the event – which is organised in partnership with the UK’s reading charity, BookTrust – that he wants to address the “invisible privilege and inequality” of “more and more children” falling further behind from lack of early years reading.
“Every child needs the opportunity to begin to build the apparatus of happiness within themselves,” he will add.
“Shared reading – especially in early years – is an essential component of that apparatus.
“A child who doesn’t have those early reading experiences will have not just a smaller vocabulary, or less cultural capital, but less chance of being happy.
“That our children seem to be experiencing some kind of happiness recession at the moment is not surprising.
“They’ve borne the brunt of a series of crises. Austerity, the pandemic, Brexit – these all hit children first and hardest. I believe that the decline in reading too has played its part in this.”
Cottrell-Boyce, also known for the novels Framed and Millions, which have been made into films, will list the ways the issue is “crucial” and needs “urgent” change, including saying that it improves education, adds to the UK’s cultural heritage, and improves mental health following his visits across the country to reading programmes.
He will say early years reading is “simple” to fix, adding: “It’s urgent and it’s under threat.
“My laureateship began under the baleful light of the burning of a library. Spellow Hub (which was damaged in the summer riots in Liverpool).
“The people who did that did not know how to make sense of the world. We are facing all kinds of crises.
“The space we’ve described – that cosy promethean space between child and reader – is under threat from all kinds of directions.
“If a large proportion of our children are never invited into that space, it stands to reason their children won’t be either and that will go on and on. A widening circle.
“If we vacate that space – that space where human love slows the world down and makes it a bit more navigable – we will cede it to something that is not human, who will not slow down. That gives in place of calm and connection anxiety and fury.”
Cottrell-Boyce will say there is “no excuse for that inequality”, and that “the infrastructure and the brilliant people” exist in “health visitors, family centres, and so on”.
“When we started this we did not know who the government would be,” he will add. “But we know now. We need you.
“We need your Government, (Prime Minister) Sir Keir Starmer, to stand up and give a visible sign that this country values its children.
“We need (Health Secretary) Wes Streeting, (Education Secretary) Bridget Phillipson, (Culture Secretary) Lisa Nandy – and more – to come together and help us make sure that every single child has access to books, reading and the transformative ways in which they improve long-term life chances.
“Put simply, shared reading is an effective, economic health intervention that should be available to all.”
The summit – led by a children’s laureate – brings together experts from across the political, education, literacy, early years, arts and health sectors to recommend action to ensure the “life-changing benefits of children’s reading are taken seriously”.
How To Train Your Dragon series author Cressida Cowell, Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram and children’s author Michael Rosen are among the speakers.
The recommendations from the summit will be published by BookTrust in spring 2025.
The Government has launched an independent curriculum and assessment review, for ages five to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis, who specialises in education and income inequality.
A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “High and rising standards, with excellent foundations in reading, writing and maths, and making sure tens of thousands more children start school ready to learn, are key parts of our Plan for Change to ensure every child can achieve and thrive.
“We’ve invested over £90 million in our English Hubs programme, which supports reading for pleasure, with a further £23 million committed for the 2024-25 academic year and we have extended early language support.”
