The current Waterstones Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce convened a summit with BookTrust of early years experts today (Wednesday 11 March), as new figures suggest daily shared reading at home is in steep decline.
The Reading Rights Summit in Westminster Abbey brought together leaders from local authorities, public health, education, children’s services and health to discuss best practice and how to ensure more children can access the life-long benefits of shared reading.
Early Years Minister Olivia Bailey also joined the summit, speaking to Frank about using community spaces and Family Hubs to inspire reading, future policy and the National Year of Reading.
The summit is the latest step in Frank’s Reading Rights campaign, which he launched on appointment as Waterstones Children’s Laureate in July 2024. In partnership with BookTrust, the UK’s largest children’s reading charity, the campaign calls for national provision so that every child has access to books and reading from their earliest years.
Shared reading in the early years has been shown to have a lasting impact on children’s development, wellbeing and future educational outcomes. Magical experiences like a shared bedtime story together have been daily traditions for many families across generations.
However, the latest research from BookTrust, released today, shows this may not be the case for more than half of children. It suggests the number of children aged eight and under who take part in daily shared reading has fallen. The proportion of parents reporting their child is read with daily was 60% in BookTrust’s 2021 research, falling to just 49% in a similar survey conducted in October and November 2025. And for families on low incomes, the proportions appear to have fallen from 58% to 47% over the same period [1].