 “The links between literacy, the ability to read and write the printed word, school performance, self-esteem and adult life chances have been widely documented … poor literacy skills are associated with generally lower education, employment, health and social outcomes as well as being linked to high rates of welfare dependence and teenage parenting.”
(Centre for Community Child Health, 2004).

 Empathy with others
 Imagination
 Knowledge of the world, other people and ourselves
 Employment opportunities
 Develops deep focus and engagement
 Pleasure and comfort
 Expands vocabulary and writing ability
“Books are the way that we communicate with the dead. The way that we learn lessons from those who are no longer with us, that humanity has built on itself, progressed, made knowledge incremental rather than something that has to be relearned, over and over. There are tales that are older than most countries, tales that have long outlasted the cultures and the buildings in which they were first told.”
Neil Gaiman

 conducted in Australia in 2006 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
 It was part of an international study co-ordinated by the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD)
 looked at prose literacy (the ability to understand and use information from various kinds of narrative texts, including texts from newspapers, magazines and brochures) and document literacy (the knowledge and skills required to locate and use information contained in various formats, including job applications, payroll forms, transportation schedules, maps, tables and charts and reading the labels on medicine packets)
 Participants in the studies were rated on their skill level, graded from 1 to 5. Individuals with a skill level for prose literacy below 3 are considered to lack the minimum skills required to meet the complex demands of everyday life and work in the emerging knowledge-based economy. ALLS showed that almost half (46%) of all Australians aged 15 and over did not meet this requirement.
 “Outside health and housing, encouraging a child to read and keeping them reading is arguably the single most important thing that can be done to influence positive outcomes in young people’s lives – socially, culturally, educationally and economically.” Australian Bureau of Statistics

No longer just a book repository
Community hubs
MakerSpaces
Meeting places
Access to technology
Navigators of the information superhighway
Vibrant, lots of activity
A safe space

 “It would be a shame if brilliant technology were to end up threatening the kind of intellect that produced it.” Edward Tenner
 Too early to be definitive, but, studies so far show reading on the screen is
 Slower
 Less accurate
 Uses less of the brain
 Results in less comprehension
 Less retention in the memory centres of the brain
 Physically tiring; the light coming off the screen can cause eyestrain and headaches
“The omnipresence of multiple distractions for attention—and the brain’s own natural attraction to novelty—contribute to a mindset toward (digital) reading that seeks to reduce information to its lowest conceptual denominator. Sound bites, text bites, and mind bites are a reflection of a culture that has forgotten or become too distracted by and too drawn to the next piece of new information to allow itself time to think.” Dr Maryanne Wolf, Director of Center for Reading and Language
Research

 Symbiotic relationship – both forms of story
 59 out of the top 101 most popular books in 2015 made into movies.
 Books require more imagination than movies – readers have to visualize the characters and the world

Growing Up in
Australia: The
Longitudinal Study of
Australian
Children (LSAC) 2012

10. ENGAGEMENT IN OTHER ACTIVITIES FOR ALL CHILDREN 10–11 YEARS(a), By those who report reading for leisure, and those who do not
TV
(%)
Sport
(%)
Computer games
(%)
Homework Board games
(%) (%)
No reading
Reading
Total
88
81
86
79
78
79
49
45
48
30
45
35
25
30
27

 Ninety-one percent of children ages 6–17 say “my favorite books are the ones that I have picked out myself.”
 The majority of kids ages 6–17 (70%) say they want books that “make me laugh.” Kids also want books that “let me use my imagination” (54%), “tell a made-up story” (48%), “have characters I wish I could be like because they’re smart, strong or brave” (43%), “teach me something new” (43%) and “have a mystery or a problem to solve” (41%).

Year Level Books Borrowed Books per Student
Prep
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
Year 10
Year 11
Year 12
2752
1067
2609
2314
1702
3038
755
476
295
297
609
652
566
24
37
10
5
5
55
21
51
39
7
7
3
7
Gender Copies Issued
F
M
9236
4752 eBooks borrowed:
360

 Parents and other significant adults model reading for pleasure
 Self-selection of reading materials
 Peer recommendations
 Provide a wide range of modern, attractive reading materials
 Visit the library regularly
 Show that you/the school values reading
 All teachers, not just English teachers, are teachers of reading.
 Reading aloud to kids
 Reading must be a pleasure.

 Ebooks
 Graphic novels
 Newspapers
 Magazines
 Audio books
 Fan fiction

 Series fiction
 Funny books – Andy Griffiths, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Nate series
 Non-fiction – joke books, Guinness Book of Records, drawing, origami, paper planes, animals, vehicles, sport

 Pearlie series
 Ella and Olivia series
 Billie B. Brown series
 Thea Stilton series
 Our Australian Girl series
 Juliet, Nearly a Vet series
 Clementine Rose series/Alice-Miranda series
 Violet Mackerel series
 Rainbow Magic series
 Secret Kingdom series
 Dork Diaries series
 Chocolate Box Girls series
 Fairy Animals of Misty Wood series
Only 7 non-fiction books in the top 100.
Only fiction books not in a series to make the top 100:
Friday Barnes: Girl Detective
Jake and Lily

 Weirdo series
 Eric Vale series
 Geronimo Stilton series
 Top Gear series
 Pokemon series
 Minecraft books
 Zac Power
 anything by Andy Griffiths
 Star Wars
 Boy vs Beast series
 Battle Boy series
39 non-fiction books in the top
100, plus 4 magazines.

 anything by Raina Telgemeier
 anything by John Green
 Dork Diaries series
 anything by Cathy Cassidy
 Diary of a Wimpy Kid series
 Lots of romance, comedy, realistic and historical fiction
 Post-apocalyptic fiction starting to go out of fashion

 Ranger’s Apprentice/Brotherband series
 Magazines – 4 places in the top 6
 Guinness World Records – 8 places in the top 20
 Diary of a Wimpy Kid series
 Dragon Ball Z series
 Simpsons comics
 Percy Jackson series
 Spirit Animals series

 Out of my Mind by Sharon M. Draper (cerebral palsy)
 Colin Fischer by Ashley Edward Miller & Zack Stentz (autism/ASD)
 My Life as an Alphabet by Barry Jonsberg (autism/ASD)
 The Rosie Project/The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion (autism/ASD)
 Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan (autism/ASD)
 Dropping In by Geoff Havel (cerebral palsy)
 Whisper by Chrissie Keighery (deafness)
 Shine by Candy Gourlay (mute)
 Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork (autism/ASD)
 Alex as Well by Alyssa Brugman(transgender)
 Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool (autism/ASD)
 Freaks like Us by Susan Vaught (schizophrenia)
 The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B by Teresa Toten (OCD, hoarding)
 Joyous and Moonbeam by Richard Yaxley (intellectual impairment)
 Wonder by R.J. Palacio (Treacher-Collins syndrome)