Reading for Pleasure

Part I

Taken from the National Library website.

Aside from the sheer joy of exercising the imagination, research shows reading for pleasure improves literacy, social skills, health, and learning outcomes.

It gives people access to culture and heritage and empowers them to become active citizens, who can contribute to economic and social development.

What is reading for pleasure

The National Library Trust (UK), defines reading for pleasure, also referred to as independent, leisure, or recreational reading, as:

Reading we do of our own free will, anticipating the satisfaction we will get from the act of reading.

They add that it's also reading that may have begun at someone else’s request, which we continue because we are interested in it. Christina Clark and Kate Rumbold note that reading for pleasure can be described as an act of play, which allows us to experience different worlds in our imagination and a creative and active/ interactive process.

The importance of reading for pleasure

  • In 2002, OECD research reported that reading enjoyment is more important for children’s educational success than their family’s socio-economic status. At the same time, the International Reading Association pointed out that the ability to read and write has never been more critical.

    "Adolescents entering the adult world in the 21st century need to read and write more than at any other time in human history. They will need advanced literacy levels to perform their jobs, run their households, act as citizens, and conduct their personal lives. They will need literacy to cope with the flood of information they find everywhere they turn. They will need literacy to feed their imaginations, so they can create the world of the future. In a complex and sometimes dangerous world, the ability to read can be crucial."
    — International Reading Association, (Moore et al, 1999, p. 3 as cited by Clark & Rumbold, 2006).