Picture it. Your eight-year-old is curled up next to you, reading a page aloud, and it sounds lovely — smooth, confident, barely a stumble. You're quietly proud. Then you ask, "So what just happened?" and you get a blank look. A shrug. "I don't know...

A parent leaned in and said it to me again recently, almost like a confession: "I think mine just doesn't like reading." If you've ever thought the same about your child, you'll know the little lurch that comes with it. I'm a teacher librarian — boo...

We hear it everywhere now. Kids can’t concentrate. Attention spans are gone. Screens have rewired the next generation. And teachers and parents are nodding along, because honestly — we can see it in the classroom and at the kitchen table. The fidget...

Why does reading matter so much in childhood? If you read the back of any literacy report, you'll be told it's vocabulary. Academic success. School readiness. All true. But the real reason is bigger than that. Reading matters because of wh...

If you've ever asked a class - or your own kids at the kitchen table - what they thought about a chapter and got back a single sentence that said "it was good," you already know the problem this post is about. We want children to think ...

Do audiobooks count as reading? It's one of the most common questions I get from parents and teachers, especially around reluctant readers. The short answer - yes. Audiobooks count. The slightly longer, more useful answer - they count for some ...

Have you ever watched your child finish a book and immediately ask, "Is there another one?" That moment - right there - is the magic of series reading. For so many kids, a series is the turning point. The book that converts them from I don&#...

It's a Wednesday night. Your child is on the lounge, holding the book you bought last weekend with high hopes - and they've just sighed for the third time. The book is too hard. Or boring. Or "I just don't get it." You've...

There's a moment I'll never forget — a Year 6 student of mine who'd spent most of the year telling anyone who'd listen that he hated reading. One Friday afternoon, during library time, he sat down on a beanbag and didn't loo...