Welcome to the Teachers’ Reading Challenge!

How it works

1. Sign in and choose a book
   Sign in and then you can use recommendations, reviews and resources to browse diverse, contemporary children's literature to find books that will inspire the children you work with.
2. Read and review
   Set your own challenges and read at your own pace, then log your book and share your thoughts with the wider Teachers’ Reading Challenge community.
3. Earn a badge
   Every book you log brings you closer to completing a badge. Read and record five books within a badge category to celebrate your achievement and showcase your growing knowledge of children's literature.
4. Join the mailing list
   Sign up to the Teachers’ Reading Challenge Bulletin to support your journey.

Why do the Teachers’ Reading Challenge?

We have all heard about the crisis in children’s reading, with engagement and enjoyment at an all-time low (NLT, National Literacy Survey 2025).

However, we believe that by working together, as educators, parents and organisations dedicated to unlocking the power of reading, we can turn this around.

The Open University’s research reveals that teachers’ knowledge of children’s literature and other texts is essential for developing a rich reading curriculum, and when combined with the four-fold reading for pleasure (RfP) pedagogy, effectively nurtures the reading habit in young people (Cremin et al, 2014). It is the cornerstone on which interactive communities of readers are built.

Modelled on The Reading Agency's popular Summer Reading Challenge, which is run annually to motivate more children to read during the break from school, the Teachers' Reading Challenge invites you to develop your repertoire of children’s books and discover ways to inspire reading for pleasure in your school or library. Reading by choice is the single biggest indicator of a child’s opportunity and future success; it can mediate socio-economic background and may help address endemic inequalities. (OECD, 2002, 2021).

Children who read are more likely to succeed in school and read more often, having a positive impact on vital reading skills, mental wellbeing, self-confidence and learning (Sullivan and Brown, 2013; Sun, et al., 2023). By taking part in the challenge, you can help more children choose to read, by:

• Develop your reading repertoire of children’s texts
• Enrich your capacity to foster a love of reading
• Enhance your reflection on the nature of reading and being a reader

Author Ambassadors

We’re proud to introduce our Author Ambassadors – a passionate group of children’s authors who are helping to champion the Teachers’ Reading Challenge!

With the generous support of HarperCollins, these authors are joining forces with The Reading Agency and The Open University to inspire educators across the UK to explore more children’s literature, deepen their Reading for Pleasure practice, and discover books that truly unlock the power of reading for young people.

• Meet them here