National Year of Reading 2026

Last year our reading programmes were supported by over 45,000 practitioners in 22,000 settings. We remain committed to ensuring that every child has the chance to enjoy reading and the lifelong benefits that brings throughout the year and for many years to come. 

The National Year of Reading 2026 is a UK-wide campaign aimed at inspiring people of all ages to rediscover the joy of reading and make it a regular part of their lives. 

It is a Department for Education initiative, delivered in partnership with major UK reading charities including BookTrust. This year’s theme is ​‘Go All In’, which relates to how reading can connect you more deeply with the things you already love. 

Reading together in the early years can make a lifelong difference. BookTrust understands that sharing books, stories and rhymes from birth supports children’s language, confidence, wellbeing and connection with the people around them. It also helps families build simple, joyful reading habits that are not only critical to childhood development but last a lifetime. 

BookTrust is the UK’s leading children’s reading charity, reaching 1.4 million children and families each year. We work in every community in England, Wales and Northern Ireland through thousands of local partners, including local authorities, family hubs, health visitors, early years settings, schools, libraries and community organisations. Our vision is a world where reading is part of the everyday life of all children and families. 

We are using the National Year of Reading to amplify and celebrate the programmes, partnerships and everyday moments of shared reading that help children and families build lifelong reading habits, with all the benefits that brings for their wellbeing and development. 
 
This supports our own national conversation which began in 2024. Our Reading Rights campaign, led by Waterstones Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce, significantly raised the profile of shared reading in the early years. Frank’s voice and convening power opened doors – not only in Westminster, but in communities across the country. The campaign continues to be a focus for us in 2026, with Frank’s new role as BookTrust’s Reading Rights Ambassador driving change with our network of partners who are advancing their commitments to embed early shared reading with families in diverse settings. 

Here are some of our highlights and things to look out for in the year ahead; 

We celebrated the National Year of Reading 2026 launch across our network of community champions using a wealth of tips, story activities and book recommendations to help our delivery partners bring books and stories to life for children and families, inspiring them to share stories together at home. 

BookTrust also took part in the Government’s Reading for Pleasure inquiry, submitting evidence on the importance of starting early, supporting families and practitioners, and making shared reading a joyful part of everyday life.

Together with Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Waterstones Children’s Laureate (2024–26), we hosted a second Reading Rights summit to accelerate action towards greater shared reading in the early years. The summit helped keep early years reading visible and reinforced our ask, to ensure that reading is a universal right for all children under seven in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. 

We also launched ​‘Share your Story’ for early years partners. We asked our Bookstart partners to share photos and videos with us, showing how they bring the magic of stories to life in their setting. We’ll be celebrating the best examples later in the year, helping partners connect, share ideas and show how reading is being brought to life locally.

Tom Percival began as Writer in Residence, with a focus on how shared reading can improve children’s wellbeing. 

The BookTrust Storytime Prize was announced, celebrating the best book for reading aloud with under 5s in the National Year of Reading. BookTrust made copies of this book and the four other finalists available in 2,700 public libraries for early years families to enjoy through the Bookstart Storytime programme. This supports libraries to create welcoming, joyful story sessions that help families discover the power of reading together. 

Frank Cottrell-Boyce delivered his landmark Children’s Laureate Lecture The Kids Are Not Alright, celebrating the progress the Reading Rights campaign has made, and the transformative difference shared reading makes for early years children and families. 

Patrice Lawrence MBE was announced as the Waterstones Children’s Laureate 2026–2028 at a ceremony at the Barbican Centre in London, helping to keep children’s reading high on the national agenda. Patrice said she would use her Laureateship, which is managed by BookTrust, to champion shared stories as a way to build stronger, safer and more inclusive communities. Her tenure will focus on the power of books to create connection, belonging and voice. 

We’re rolling out our Bookstart programmes (Baby, Pre-schooler, Toddler and Storytime) with special additions for 2026, to support reading with nearly 600,000 babies and 450,000 early years families experiencing it during the National Year of Reading. Bookstart Baby is a universal offer for families across the country, helping children begin their reading journey from birth and supporting parents and carers to share stories and rhymes at home using our books and resources. 

Picture book author and speech and language therapist Lucy Rowland was named BookTrust’s new Writer in Residence. She aims to delve deeper into the relationship between reading a story with a child and supporting their speech, language, and communication development.

BookTrust is working with Macmillan Children’s Books to bring 40,000 Gruffalo books, including the brand-new Gruffalo Granny, to families through libraries across the country. Delivered alongside this year’s Bookstart Storytime books and resources, the partnership will support story sessions, themed activities and family engagement, helping more children and carers enjoy joyful shared reading moments in their local library and at home. 

A National Year of Reading early years webinar and Story Sharer Week 2026 will show how early years partners can use reading to build family relationships, bringing together representatives of our network of early years partners. BookTrust’s contribution helps to underline our early years expertise and the role local partners play in making shared reading a habitual part of family life. 

We are also publishing the Great Books Guide 2026, supporting primary teachers and school librarians to recommend high-quality books and build a culture of reading for pleasure. A physical copy of the guide is being sent to every primary school in England and Northern Ireland, supporting more children to choose the right book for them so that they can open it again and again. 

We’ll be publishing a practical guide for practitioners that includes BookTrust’s evidence, learning and research. The guide will highlight how reading contributes to children’s sense of belonging, connection, self-esteem and relationships in the early years. 

Look out for our festive appeal too, which this year features a brilliant film highlighting BookTrust’s role to help make shared reading part of every childhood, with particular focus on children most likely to miss out.