Reading for Fun…

Today’s children – wherever they live – know how to scroll and screen surf.  They quickly digest and accept nano bits of information presented in less than a minute, and they move on.  But too many do not know how to read.  Not for knowledge and understanding.  And not for fun.  

It is reading for fun that makes reading to learn an adventure rather than a chore.

Reading for fun begins at home.  The nightly ritual of a parent reading to a child is a bonding experience that becomes a warm and welcome memory.  It introduces children to the wonder of words; the stories they tell; the images they create.  Reading to children is magical. 

Reading to children can take place in school as well, especially in pre-K and elementary grades.  Some teachers put aside a reading time when children gather around and listen to a wonderful story. According to research, most do not.

Anywhere it happens, reading to children for fun motivates them to read and discover for themselves.  It can be the beginning of a life-long love: Choosing a book based solely on personal interests and then making time to dive into it with anticipation and pleasure. They can experience the same excitement and pleasure in the challenge of academic reading as they learn how to pronounce words, unravel their meanings, and tease out and understand the many facets of a particular subject or assignment.   

But, according to research in the U.K. and in the U.S., reading for fun and reading to learn, respectively, have been declining at a steepening rate for many years. 

In 2025, a study from HarperCollins U.K. and Nielsen showed that reading for fun to children four and under dropped from 64% in 2012 to 41% today.  The same study cited only 24% of teachers dedicated time to reading for fun.  

In the U.S., a Time Use Survey of more than 230,000 people 15 and older, published in the journal iScience, showed that between 2003 and 2023, reading for pleasure among all individuals dropped 40%:  From 28% on 2003 to 16% in 2023.  Only 2% of respondents read regularly to their children. It has become a burden for some parents. Consequently, fewer children and youth are reading for the sheer joy of it - which impacts their ability to transition successfully to academic reading.   

To compound the problem, many schools have replaced the proven paradigm of phonics-based reading instruction with “literary experience” – an approach similar to the failed whole language philosophy of the 1980s and 90s.  As a result, increasingly more students are unable to decode and read beyond 10 pages at a proficient level of understanding.   

The transition from reading for fun to reading to learn has eroded. Reading loss is profound.  We can fix this.  Why should we turn our backs on something that works? Something so pleasurable to enjoy with our children and students: Reading for fun!

Reading a book for sheer pleasure is an intentional act.  It requires planning, commitment, anticipation.  And a comfortable cushion of time.  Reading for fun is one of those rare things: An affordable and memorable luxury, harkening back to the days when leisure time was truly leisurely rather than frantic.

It is a habit which must be restored.  Because research has also proven there is a causal link that children who are read to will more likely become proficient readers themselves. Thinkers who learn, understand, draw and validate conclusions, and exchange ideas in a forum that is longer than a text or a post. 

It is time to get back to reading to our children for their fun and ours.  It is also time to restore phonics-based reading instruction in school. For children who already enjoy having someone read to them, phonics will be a new adventure.  They can explore what words look like, sound like, and how they can be used to serve and delight the students who love them.

NOTE: Reading loss is a key component of learning loss.  Causes of and reversals for learning loss are explored in the latest issue of my newsletter Unpacking Education, linked here.  To reverse learning loss, it is vital and fundamental to revitalize both the love and the skill of reading.

Answer to Unpacking Education, No. 39, Question of the Day:

To protect against a resurgence of measles in the U.S., the recommended immunization rate for children and the correct answer is e) 95% (achieved after two doses). Please note the following:

Immunization gaps (below 95%) have led to measles outbreaks in multiple states and the highest number of cases since measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000. In addition, unvaccinated people, including children, have up to a 90% chance of contracting measles.

Recommended immunization rates to protect against outbreaks for other childhood diseases include:    

Mumps  86%        Chicken Pox  90%     Rubella  85%      Whooping Cough 94%      Polio  82%