Inspiring kids to read for pleasure is just as important as ensuring they can read, and some of New Zealand’s leading literary advocates are calling for a greater focus on reading for enjoyment as education takes the spotlight.

Alan Dingley is a school librarian and New Zealand’s next Te Awhi Rito Reading Ambassador and Tania Roxborogh is an award-winning author and secondary school teacher. Both say reading for pleasure is an overlooked element in the discussion about learning outcomes, and more needs to be done to encourage it.

Reading for fun is at the heart of HELL’s Reading Challenge, which is now in its tenth year. The challenge, which is administered by the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, is free for schools and libraries to join. Last year, the Great NZ Book Trip was added to the challenge and provides learning resources for teachers and libraries and the opportunity to connect with authors through live virtual author events.

Alan, a former New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults judging convenor, says it can take just one book to hook a child into reading, which increases vocabulary, imaginative thinking and well-being.

“Reading for pleasure is something we so desperately need to normalise here in NZ, and as a librarian, it’s about knowing your collection and pairing your reader with a book that suits them. It’s important there are initiatives that remove the stigma of reading not being ‘cool’ and are open and accessible to everyone,” he says.

Tania participated in last year’s Great NZ Book Trip, talking to school children about her 2021 Margaret Mahy Book of the Year winner, Charlie Tangaroa and the Creature from the Sea. She says children are choosing to read less with the distractions of modern life, and forcing them to read can backfire.

“There are children who can’t read, and then there are those who can but don’t want to - and both situations are very different. Reading for fun doesn’t carry the same value as it did for previous generations - we need to motivate them to pick up a book.

“When kids read because they want to, they build critical thinking skills creating well-rounded humans. It’s not just about reading the text on a page; it’s making sense of it and understanding the words. It can be the smallest thing that inspires them to pick up a book. Having the Reading Challenge readily available in schools is important because it could be one element - like the live readings - that inspires a student and begins a lifelong love of reading,” she says.

The Reading Challenge is 100 per cent privately funded by HELL. Ben Cumming, HELL CEO says they are committed to making reading fun for New Zealand children.

“Last year, when we expanded the Reading Challenge to include the Book Trip resources, we saw a 20 per cent increase in the number of schools taking part, bringing participation levels back to pre-Covid levels. We take great pride in seeing the positive impact the programme is having in supporting teachers, librarians and young learners and look forward to inspiring more children this year,” he says.

The first Live Author Session for 2023 will be held on May 4th, featuring Sonya Wilson, author of Spark Hunter, which won the NZSA Best First Book Award at the 2022 NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.

Schools and libraries participate for free in the Reading Challenge and Great NZ Book Trip. To take part in the Reading Challenge, children receive a stamp on a HELL Reading Challenge ‘Pizza Wheel’ for each book they read. Once they have read seven books, they can exchange their completed wheel for a free 333 Kids’ Pizza from any HELL store. More than seven million books have been read by students since 2013. You can find out more here.