More children reading for fun

According to an annual survey carried out by the National Literacy Trust, an increasing number of children are reading for fun in their spare time. The report surveyed 32,000 children between 8 and 18 years old. 40% of children said they thought reading was ‘cool’ and 41% said they read daily outside school, up from 32% in the previous year. The research suggests that there are persistent differences between boys and girls, with 47% of girls saying they read daily outside school, compared with 36% of boys. More than half of all children said they preferred watching television to reading. In addition to books, children are also reading other media, such as websites, comics, song lyrics and emails.