Inspiring Teenage Boys to Read
In an increasingly divided world, books can be beacons of light illuminating a complex, fractured society; enabling us to make sense of the world around us; helping us to navigate the emotional worlds of others or simply providing an escape from daily life. However, many of our young people are now missing out.
The latest research from the National Literacy Trust reveals that young people’s enjoyment of reading is at its lowest for 20 years – just 32.7% of those aged 8 to 18 say that they enjoy reading in their free time and only 18.7% say they read something daily in their free time. The figures are even starker for boys - especially teenage boys. The evidence now suggests that the decline in reading for pleasure is a sustained decline, not just a blip. Against this backdrop, the Department for Education, in partnership with the National Literacy Trust, has designated 2026 the National Year of Reading with the aim of reversing this decline. Recently, the UK government announced the launch of an inquiry into reading for pleasure.
With this decline in reading comes consequences: the confidence to embrace learning goes undeveloped; access to information is denied; new sources of inspiration left undiscovered; other cultures, other lived experiences, are not encountered; their own growing sense of self remains unexplored; anxiety continues to grow, stresses escalate, emotional wellbeing suffers; empathy does not blossom; democracy is threatened. Ultimately, life chances are restricted. Reading for pleasure offers protection.
There is, however, hope that this decline can be reversed. Approximately 38% (National Literacy Trust report) of children and young people report that they are more inclined to read when reading material relates to films and media or aligns with their interests and hobbies.
At The Macnaghten Library at Sherborne Boys, we are continually striving to find new and enticing ways to engage the students with reading, literacy and information. We offer a bespoke Book Match service, which provides boys with tailored support to discover the right books for them. There are Book Tasting workshops to enable students to explore new genres in more depth. The fortnightly multimedia current awareness bulletin provides a curated selection of current affairs topics, which students find broadens their global awareness and encourages them to think about topics from different perspectives. Book Chat (the library’s research-informed dialogic reading group) has offered 3rd Formers a space in which they can listen to an expert reader reading a text aloud, discuss the use of language, and develop their reading comprehension skills. Students have loved engaging with modern YA fiction through dialogue and have enjoyed analysing character motivation. Listening to a text has enabled them to focus more intently on themes, language choices, and providing evidence from the text to support their opinions and observations.
Book Trip offers the chance to take a holiday in book form! Students (and staff!) complete a short holiday questionnaire to briefly describe their favourite holiday and a fantasy holiday. We then select three books to match their preferences and invite them to complete a comments card (anonymously!) after reading. The comments card stays with the book and the next person to read it can see what someone else thought. Students and staff have reported that it is a fun way to discover new authors, read something different, and share their reading experiences with others. One student so enjoyed their book trip, they chose to do their history project on the same theme!
For the National Year of Reading, following a suggestion from a colleague, we have adapted the popular TV show Race Across The World and created Read Across The World. This year’s ‘Race’ is across South America and involves fun exploration tasks to learn more about each country; immersive, practical, multimedia ‘experiences’ to broaden students’ knowledge of the culture, history, language, food and environment of various countries; and ‘job’ tasks to earn extra points. Fun reading activities are woven throughout. Students are enjoying learning about the culture of different South American countries, as well as the competitive element of ‘racing’ against opposing teams and the clock! Importantly, this initiative meets young people where they are and presents them with a familiar multimodal reading experience.
Shadowing the Carnegie Book Awards provides a fantastic opportunity to showcase high quality writing and illustration. The Carnegies are a prestigious national and international book award judged by librarians. Our students have enjoyed participating in the national shadowing scheme, using the same criteria as the librarian judges, to shadow the Illustration Medal. This has enabled us to focus on visual literacy – again, meeting young people where they are – critically analysing images, discussing the synergy of text and illustration, exploring the representation of identity and much more. It has been a fantastic way to encourage students to really ‘look’ at the details within a text and students have loved reading texts that they would not usually encounter. Having their questions answered by authors has motivated them further.
From using information books to research innovative builds in Lego club, to solving literary puzzles in a Harry Potter themed Escape Room and testing their book knowledge in the Inter-House Literary Quiz, fun ways to engage with reading for a range of purposes are woven throughout our library year.
The National Year of Reading has given us the perfect excuse to further highlight reading for pleasure and we cannot wait to share more exciting reading experiences with the students.
Sue Gransby, Librarian, Sherborne Boys (9 February 2026)
From using information books to research innovative builds in Lego club, to solving literary puzzles in a Harry Potter themed Escape Room and testing their book knowledge in the Inter-House Literary Quiz, fun ways to engage with reading for a range of purposes are woven throughout our library year."
