Deprived children are being robbed of a lifetime of reading for pleasure, by governments that are “simply blind” to the benefits of loving literature from an early age, according to the author Michael Morpurgo.
Morpurgo and a coalition of leading authors, including Julia Donaldson, Malorie Blackman and Cressida Cowell, are backing a call by BookTrust to ensure that every child from a low-income family has access to books and reading activities by investing in a programme across schools and nurseries.
“We have to acknowledge the right of every single child in this country to have access, physically, intellectually and emotionally, to reading. And that will not happen unless the books are there, and it will not happen unless books are shared early,” said Morpurgo, the author of well-loved classics such as War Horse and The Butterfly Lion.
Morpurgo said the UK had a “division of opportunity” between children with access to books, whose lives and education were “massively enriched” as a result, and those from deprived backgrounds that did not.
“Any government that doesn’t recognise this is simply blind,” said Morpurgo.
“We do have a hugely divided society, particularly at the moment when we have so many millions living in poverty, and these are the very children who are exposed to this lack of commitment to passing on what is arguably the greatest asset we have in this country, our literature from this remarkable language we have got.
“These are also the most likely children to be suffering from mental health issues, from lack of self-worth and from family problems at home. These are the very children who most need to find the pathway to fulfilment and achievement that books can bring.”
Research by BookTrust has found that only half of children aged between one and two from low-income families are read to every day.
