The University of Sheffield has partnered up with World Book Day to highlight how important it is to encourage young children to read, as it was found that only 20.5 percent of children and young people aged eight to 18 have said they read daily for enjoyment, which is a large fall from 28 percent in 2023. 

Dr Sabine Little, from the University of Sheffield’s School of education, has done previous research with the National Literacy Trust and found that multilingual children are more likely to read for pleasure than children who only speak one language. 

Dr Little said: “Multilingual children are much more likely to focus on what a book or story represents, rather than simply thinking about the plot.

“What we are learning from multilingual children is that they are thinking about their reading from a very complex viewpoint.”

She believes that learning about multilingual children reading for pleasure can help encourage all children to grow their love for reading, whilst also receiving the benefits of being able to engage and fully understand a story. 

Dr Little will create a core activity in the World Book Day packs that will be sent to all schools in the UK, called ‘River Reading’, that is suitable for all children despite language background. 

The activity will involve parents in memories and experiences going back to early childhood, whilst also placing emphasis on the importance of home reading, and how its very valuable to childhood development. 

Manahil, a year 3 student, said: “I love these kinds of days because I can share the language that I speak at home, and learn about other people’s language.”

When speaking to people about their views on World Book Day in Weston Park, a University of Sheffield student, Agathe Fontaine, said: “I think it’s really cool… I feel like our generation doesn’t really appreciate books anymore.” 

Agathe studies internationally from Canada, where they do not celebrate World Book Day, and she believes that it is a great way to encourage children to focus more on reading, and really liked the idea of dressing up as a way to engage with books.