Putting Social Justice and Equity at the Heart of Reading for Pleasure

Tools, Tips and Research to Support Professionals in Primary Classrooms

Jane Carter

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781040319239
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Early Childhood Education

This essential book discusses what reading for pleasure is and what it is not, introducing some fundamental ideas about how we learn to read and how this process can impact a child's identity as a reader in classrooms that promote equality, inclusion and diversity.

The profile and importance of Reading for Pleasure has grown significantly over the last few years and is now firmly embedded in both government policy and the Ofsted framework. Developing a Reading for Pleasure school that is truly inclusive of the whole school community, however, can require a culture shift in relation to the teaching of reading, representation in the reading environment and the knowledge, and attitudes of the school community. This book seeks to use the current research, teacher case studies and the voices of children to address some of the issues that teachers and pre-service teachers encounter when trying to develop an inclusive Reading for Pleasure culture within their schools. Each chapter is co-authored by teachers and researchers and includes case studies and children's perspectives.

It provides practical and evidence-based advice, lesson ideas and creative ideas to both support and challenge all school leaders, staff and student teachers in their journey to create readers rather than children that can just read.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Endorsements Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of contributors
• 1 Introduction to reading for pleasure
• 2 What counts as reading?
• 3 Not reading for pleasure but “purposefully positive”: Understanding the difference between reading for pleasure and using great texts for teaching
• 4 Connecting people and planet through reading for pleasure
• 5 Representation in children's literature
• 6 Engaging and re-engaging readers: Innovative approaches that can help reignite the spark
• 7 Family engagement: Who are your influencers?
• 8 The importance of teachers’ knowledge of children's literature to develop children's reading for pleasure
• 9 The pleasure of reading against: Embedding lifelong critical literacy from picturebooks to social media
• 10 Conclusion: A call to action for social justice and equity in reading for pleasure
• Appendices
• Index