Six months into the National Year of Reading, new research has shown a welcome rise in children's reading across the UK.
For the first time in five years, the National Literacy Trust has reported an increase in reading for pleasure and daily reading among children.
36.1% of children in the UK now say they enjoy reading in their free time, up from the all-time low of 32.7% in 2025.
There's a long way to go, but it's an encouraging sign of progress on this critical issue.
Here in Guernsey, we’ve had an equally positive start to the campaign. With your support, we’ve been ‘Going All In’ on reading across the island.
The Library, the States of Guernsey, the Guernsey Literary Festival, Bright Beginnings and Guernsey Arts are working together to champion reading for pleasure and inspire people of all ages to read more.
The year kicked off with a launch assembly at St Martin's Primary School, where Deputy Paul Montague, President of the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture, spoke powerfully about the vital importance of reading. And we shared the results of our own Guernsey Reading Survey, which showed that reading is already at the heart of island life. Both children and adults read more often than their counterparts in the UK.
We've been extremely grateful to schools for engaging so positively with the campaign. In May, Melrose hosted a special themed assembly where students shared their favourite books and talked about what reading means to them, all while dressed up as book characters.
Meanwhile, in secondary schools, we’ve been working with Guernsey football legend Ross Allen, who's spoken to students about the positive impact of reading on his life. Secondary school students are a key demographic where reading for pleasure has been in decline in recent years, so it was great to see so many students being inspired by Ross's story.
“Books are part of the fabric of my life. They're where I turn to learn, to be inspired, and to escape - they're a quiet refuge that help me to stay calm and unwind between games.”
- Ross Allen
On World Book Day, our Library team dressed up as our favourite book characters! If you entered the Library on 5 March, you'd have been browsing alongside Gandalf and Galadriel, the Tiger who Came to Tea, the Very Hungry Caterpillar, and E.T.
And at 11am we dropped everything and spent 15 minutes reading as part of our Stop, Drop, & Read initiative. This encouraged islanders to read together at the same time, and it was fantastic to see so many people getting involved throughout the community. Schools, businesses, and local media outlets all shared photos from their reading sessions. It was fantastic to get the island reading, and a great reminder that even 15 minutes can make a big difference to your wellbeing.
In May, we partnered with the Guernsey Literary Festival to open a new Book Nook at La Vallette Bathing Pools. Bestselling author Joanne Harris cut the ribbon on a beautiful collection of books for the community to share. The Book Nook is proving extremely popular so far - we hope to add more at other locations in the future. Watch this space!
The Literary Festival was bigger and better than ever this year, with over 13,000 people attending more than 80 events, including 18 at the Library. A notable highlight was when former Children's Laureate Lauren Child and the Festival's Honorary Chairman Terry Waite joined our own Adam Bayfield in a panel discussion about the National Year of Reading, exploring how we can all work together to drive real change at home, in schools, and across our communities.
The campaign continues to build momentum as we head into the summer. In June, Guernsey Arts made the National Year of Reading the theme of their much-loved Arts Sunday event. Our team loved taking part and sharing stories on the seafront.
Meanwhile, the States Early Years Team and Guernsey Press launched their Snuggle Up and Share A Book campaign, focussed on reading with young children. Reading from an early age is so important for development, with over 90% of neural connections forming before age five. Find out more about that campaign here.
There’s been a buzz of activity so far this year, and it’s been wonderful to see so many of you Going All In on reading. It's a fantastic start to what we hope continues to be an exciting year where we can celebrate reading as an island community. While the UK stats are moving in the right direction, there's still a long way to go, and a lot of work to be done.
We can’t wait to unveil some of the next key moments in the campaign: the Summer of Sport, and the Summer Reading Challenge! Every year almost 2,000 children take part in our free challenge to read six books over the summer holidays - and we're pulling out all the stops to make 2026 the biggest and best yet. It starts on Saturday 11 July - get involved at library.gg/challenge
Keep an eye out for upcoming activities and reading-related fun!
Read the full UK report from the National Literacy Trust here.