In part 4 we hear more about what we should be doing to address the decline in children’s reading for pleasure. In this episode we focus on approaches in schools and how to involve staff and pupils in creating a reading for pleasure culture.

For this series we interviewed the following people (not all feature in every episode):

Dapo Adeloa - Author and the illustrator of many books including Look Up!, Clean Up!and My Dad is a Grizzly Bear.

Sita Brahmachari - Author of many books including Artichoke Hearts, When Shadows Falland Phoenix Brothers

Dr Darren Chetty - Lecturer at UCL Institute of Education and author, with Professor Karen Sands O'Connor, of Beyond the Secret Garden

Professor Teresa Cremin - Professor of Education and Co-Director of the Literacy and Social Justice Centre at The Open University

Charlotte Hacking - Teacher Engagement Lead at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Pedagogy and Research and Curriculum Lead at Herne Hill School

Jenny Hawke - Children's Librarian and Chair of the Youth Library Group

Tom Palmer - Author of many books including Angel of Grasmere, Resist and War Dog

Glynn Palmer–Bell - Assistant Director of English at Castle View Enterprise Academy, Sunderland

Louie Stowell - Author of many books including the Loki series, Otherland and the Dragon in the Library

Sabrina Sulliman - English teacher at Southfields Academy, South West London

At the end of the series we will invite comments and ideas from listeners so look out for how you can contribute to the discussion.

Many thanks to everyone we interviewed and to our Co Producer Belinda Naylor.

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For the National Year of Reading, we are sharing a series of short conversations with people who are involved in promoting reading with young people. This could be a programme, resources or a literary event, and we're giving them the opportunity to share what they do and how people can get involved.

In this episode we are joined by Tanja Jennings, who is the joint Northern Ireland Representative on the Youth Libraries Group.

Information about the Carnegies can be found here.

Information about the Members' Fest can be found here.

The Youth Libraries Group recommendations on Bookshop.org can be found here.

And if you are interested in The Youth Library Review or newsletters, you can get more information from ylg.newsletter@gmail.com.

Tanja Jennings write a blog, Good Night to Read, about books and reading which can be found here.

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In this episode we talk to Susannah Lloyd about the latest instalment in her Badgers are Go! series, Revenge of the Claw. Illustrated by Nici Gregory.

We cover lots of ingenious disguises, pudding references and doing all the voices! Also the importance of having children who can help you name your characters.

You can find out more about Susannah Lloyd's books here.

The books we discussed can be found here:

Badgers are Go!

Badgers are Go! Revenge of the Claw

Who Ate Steve?

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In part 3 of our mini series about 'The Reading Crisis', we hear more about access, but also about who decides which books get published, how they're marketed, and how they get into children's hands, as well as the lack of coverage in the media of children's literature.

For this series we interviewed the following people (not all feature in every episode):

Dapo Adeloa - Author and the illustrator of many books including Look Up!, Clean Up!and My Dad is a Grizzly Bear.

Sita Brahmachari - Author of many books including Artichoke Hearts, When Shadows Falland Phoenix Brothers

Dr Darren Chetty - Lecturer at UCL Institute of Education and author, with Professor Karen Sands O'Connor, of Beyond the Secret Garden

Professor Teresa Cremin - Professor of Education and Co-Director of the Literacy and Social Justice Centre at The Open University

Charlotte Hacking - Teacher Engagement Lead at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Pedagogy and Research and Curriculum Lead at Herne Hill School

Jenny Hawke - Children's Librarian and Chair of the Youth Library Group

Tom Palmer - Author of many books including Angel of Grasmere, Resist and War Dog

Glynn Palmer–Bell - Assistant Director of English at Castle View Enterprise Academy, Sunderland

Louie Stowell - Author of many books including the Loki series, Otherland and the Dragon in the Library

Sabrina Sulliman - English teacher at Southfields Academy, South West London

At the end of the series we will invite comments and ideas from listeners so look out for how you can contribute to the discussion.

Many thanks to everyone we interviewed and to our Co Producer Belinda Naylor.

Send us a message

 For the National Year of Reading, we are sharing a series of short conversations with people who are involved in promoting reading with young people. This could be a programme, resources or a literary event, and we're giving them the opportunity to share what they do and how people can get involved.

For our first conversation, we are joined by Mo O'Hara from Stepping Into Stories Kids' Lit Fest.

Further information about the festival can be found here.

If you run an organisation or an event that supports children and young people's reading and would like to have a converstation about what you do any special activities you are running for the National Year of Reading and how people can join in, do get in touch via our website www.mostlybooktalk.com

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In part two of our mini series about The Reading Crisis, we look at how testing, technology and access to books are affecting reading for pleasure.

For this series we interviewed the following people (not all feature in every episode):

Dapo Adeloa - Author and the illustrator of many books including Look Up!, Clean Up!and My Dad is a Grizzly Bear.

Sita Brahmachari - Author of many books including Artichoke Hearts, When Shadows Falland Phoenix Brothers

Dr Darren Chetty - Lecturer at UCL Institute of Education and author, with Professor Karen Sands O'Connor, of Beyond the Secret Garden

Professor Teresa Cremin - Professor of Education and Co-Director of the Literacy and Social Justice Centre at The Open University

Charlotte Hacking - Teacher Engagement Lead at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Pedagogy and Research and Curriculum Lead at Herne Hill School

Jenny Hawke - Children's Librarian and Chair of the Youth Library Group

Tom Palmer - Author of many books including Angel of Grasmere, Resist and War Dog

Glynn Palmer–Bell - Assistant Director of English at Castle View Enterprise Academy, Sunderland

Louie Stowell - Author of many books including the Loki series, Otherland and the Dragon in the Library

Sabrina Sulliman - English teacher at Southfields Academy, South West London

At the end of the series we will invite comments and ideas from listeners so look out for how you can contribute to the discussion.

Many thanks to everyone we interviewed and to our Co Producer Belinda Naylor.

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The first in our mini series about The Reading Crisis - why children aren't reading and what we can do about it. In this episode we look at what the data tells us about children's reading and start to discuss what some of the barriers are to children reading for pleasure.

For this series we interviewed the following people (not all feature in every episode):

Dapo Adeloa - Author and the illustrator of many books including Look Up!, Clean Up! and My Dad is a Grizzly Bear.

Sita Brahmachari - Author of many books including Artichoke Hearts, When Shadows Fall and Phoenix Brothers

Dr Darren Chetty - Lecturer at UCL Institute of Education and author with Professor Karen Sands O'Connor of Beyond the Secret Garden

Professor Teresa Cremin - Professor of Education and Co-Director of the Literacy and Social Justice Centre at The Open University

Charlotte Hacking - Teacher Engagement Lead at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Pedagogy and Research and Curriculum Lead at Herne Hill School

Jenny Hawke - Children's Librarian and Chair of the Youth Library Group

Tom Palmer - Author of many books including Angel of Grasmere, Resist and War Dog

Glynn Palmer–Bell - Assistant Director of English at Castle View Enterprise Academy, Sunderland

Louie Stowell - Author of many books including the Loki series, Otherland and the Dragon in the Library

Sabrina Sulliman - English teacher at Southfields Academy, South West London

At the end of the series we will invite comments and ideas from listeners so look out for how you can contribute to the discussion.

Many thanks to everyone we interviewed and to our Co Producer Belinda Naylor.

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In in this episode we talk to AM Dassu about her latest book, Wild Journey. This is a collection of five interlinked stories about children around the world all connected by the sight of a murmuration of starlings. Fully illustrated by Joe Lillington.

AM Dassu's website can be found here and links to the books we discussed are below:

Wild Journey

Boy, Everywhere

Fight Back

Can You Find my Eid Presents?

Show Racism the Red Card (out Sept 2026)

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