Author Cressida Cowell has renewed a call for the government to invest £100m in primary school libraries, as her final act in the role of children’s laureate.
Cowell said that it was “ever more urgent to introduce a proper, lasting” library intervention, as new research shows that school libraries help to improve academic standards, as well as foster a love of reading in children.
The creator of the How to Train Your Dragon series was speaking after the publication of a new report on her Life-changing Libraries project, the flagship initiative in her three-year term as laureate.
The project saw bespoke, dedicated libraries built in six primary schools across the country, each stocked with more than 1,000 specially curated books. The initiative also supported staff with training and mentoring from specialists to develop a culture of reading for pleasure.
