Popular authors ask government to give kids more opportunities to read
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A group of authors are asking the government to give children more chances to read
Popular authors like Michael Morpurgo, Cressida Cowell (How To Train Your Dragon) and Julia Donaldson (The Gruffalo) are asking the government to give kids more chance to read.
Michael Morpurgo, who wrote books like War Horse and Private Peaceful, says some children aren't getting the chance to read for pleasure.
He says the government needs to look after libraries, which give children the opportunity to borrow books and read more.
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Michael Morpurgo says not enough children are getting the chance to develop a love for reading at a young age.
He's working with other authors on a campaign by BookTrust, a charity that helps kids get access to books.
We have to acknowledge the right of every single child in this country to have access, physically, intellectually and emotionally, to reading
He says every child deserves the right to read, and worries that children from lower-income families are missing out from the joys of opening a book and getting lost in a story.
BookTrust found in their research that only half of young toddlers aged between one and two, who come from low-income backgrounds, are read to every day.
Love for libraries
If you have a local library, you can borrow all sorts of different books
The campaign says libraries are key to get kids reading. They are a chance for children to borrow books without their parents having to buy them, or rely on other people to gift them.
Michael Morpurgo says libraries are "lifelines" to get kids into reading books for fun, rather than just reading books in school for exams.
According to Arts Council England and data from CIPFA (the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy), hundreds of libraries have been closed in England since 2010.
The government said it is "committed to raising literacy standards for children across England".
They (books) are there to enjoy and become part of your life, not just to be studied and quizzed on
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