Australian children book ownership stats raise concerns about lagging literacy rates

NEARLY 40 per cent of Australian kids have just 10 books or fewer at home, prompting concerns a lack of reading is contributing to lagging literacy rates.

Isabelle, Tom and Alice Dunckley read at home. Picture: Jay Town

NEARLY 40 per cent of Australian kids have just 10 books or fewer at home, prompting concerns a lack of reading is contributing to lagging literacy rates.

The research, to be released on Friday, shows the average Australian child owns 18 books at home.

But the survey, from Dymocks and YouGov, also found one in three kids has fewer than a dozen books at home and 39 per cent had 10 or fewer.

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Two in five mums would also like their children to read more.

Literacy expert Louise Park said dwindling book ownership might contribute to lagging literacy results.

NAPLAN scores released this month revealed Victorian students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 had failed to improve their spelling and grammar, punctuation and writing in the past decade.

The writing of year 9 pupils had dropped significantly.

Ms Park said every child should read for at least 30 minutes a day.

“I would like the rates of book ownership to sit alongside DVD ownership or ownership of the latest toy craze,” Ms Park said.

“Children are now a lot less engaged with reading.

“If students hit high school and are struggling to read, they will fall further and further behind.

“So many doors will be closed to them if they leave school with low literacy skills.”

Dymocks will on Friday launch a fundraising campaign, with 50c from every children’s book sold until August 26 donated to literacy support programs.

The campaign is expected to benefit more than 12,000 students across Australia.

Sophie Higgins, from Dymocks, said just one book could change a child’s life.

“It’s unimaginable to many Australians that there are children who don’t have books in their homes,” she said.

“But it is a reality.

“It’s important that children have books of their own that they’ve chosen.

“If they are forced to read books they’re not interested in it may actually put them off reading.”

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@moniquehore