We asked teachers and librarians for practical, innovative ideas to promote reading in school. This is what they told us.

  • Engage parents by inviting them to become members of the school library, or by inviting them to workshops on how to support their child’s reading.
  • Make reading visible around the school by displaying attractive posters – ‘Good reads for historians…’, ‘Want to know more about the causes of earthquakes? Try these books…’ 
  • Have sections of a text placed in different corridors and areas so that pupils need to read one and find the next extract.
  • Let pupils take home six books from the library over the summer holiday (one for each week). Better that the books are with the pupils than sitting on the shelves over the summer holiday!
  • Recruit influential pupils to be book, author or genre ‘ambassadors’ – with an element of competition to see who can secure the widest readership.
  • Try ‘Taking a chance on a book’ promotions where some books are wrapped in paper to hide their identity; this gives an air of mystery and can encourage readers to try different genres.
  • Add small ‘recommendation’ cards to book displays with lively pupil or teacher comments, or try “If you like this then you’ll love…”
  • Encourage other staff to use and promote the library to pupils. One school uses regular ‘literary lunches’ hosted by the librarian, where new acquisitions are shared with other members of staff.
  • Take the library out of the library – set up book displays and reading corners in different parts of the school.
  • Show pupils how current literature has its roots in the past, e.g. Twilight and Dracula.
  • Take advantage of technology in the school – share book recommendations, extracts or reviews on the school’s intranet, screensavers and TV display screens.
  • Set up book groups for pupils – encourage them to discuss books and make recommendations, or try shadowing book awards such as the Carnegie.
  • Develop a subject specific ‘extension library’ to enable older pupils who may be specialising in history or economics to develop their reading repertoire whilst connecting to and making sense of their specialist areas of interest.