Seven Tips to Get Young People Reading
To quote The Cat in the Hat creator Dr Seuss, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

- Make time each day to read together. If your child is a reluctant book reader, try magazines. Many magazines are aimed at children, so choose one on a topic that matches your child’s interests, such as football, animals, or cars.
- Don’t forget the importance of talking to your child. Good language skills are associated with good literacy skills.
- Join your local library so you can borrow numerous books (fiction and non-fiction) for free. Experiment with different genres and authors to find out what your child likes.
- Send a card or letter in the post – children love to open envelopes addressed to them. Also, encourage your child to write to a loved one.
- BookTok, a sub-community on TikTok where readers post book recommendations, is hugely popular with teenagers. If you’re struggling to get your teen to read, look at what’s trending on #BookTok.
- Never criticise a young person’s choice in books. If they’re reading something that engages them, go with it.
- When watching a film or TV show, turn on the English subtitles. Researchers think this activates the ‘listening’ and ‘speaking’ parts of the brain and helps reinforce our understanding of words.