Jacqueline Wilson blames parents stuck on phones for falling child literacy rates
Parents “scrolling” on their phones are to blame for children’s low literacy rates, Dame Jacqueline Wilson said in a stirring call for change.
Author Tracy Beaker said, “After loving and nurturing a child, making him love books is the third thing.”
Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, he said he hoped parents would “not be so glued to their phones and scrolling all the time” and would consider reading to their children when they are really young.
“A very young child is shown that books can be magical, exciting and really interesting, then with a little luck they will grow up with that love of books,” he said. Telegram.
The percentage of children and young people who say they enjoy reading is at its lowest level in 20 years, according to a survey by the National Literacy Trust in early 2025.
In 2025, only one in three children and young people aged 8-18 said they enjoyed reading in their spare time.
Dame Jacqueline said: “Reading is truly one of the most important things in my life. I’m like someone who’s the head of a cult or some obscure religious sect, banging my drum and shouting ‘Read!’ I mean.
The bestselling author also targeted the lack of words in children’s books published in recent years.
While he acknowledged that these were “wonderful entertainment”, he said they were filled with cartoons or images “describing the crude sounds we’re talking about” rather than actual words.
The 79-year-old artist, the author of more than 100 books, spoke at the festival to introduce his newest work, Picture Imperfect. This book for adults is a sequel to the children’s book The Illustrated Mom, published in 1999.
Acknowledging that times have changed since the first day he started writing, he said that childhood is now “harder for children” and that they are not “as resilient as they used to be” due to the pandemic and social media.
“Probably because we are so sensitive to what children feel and Covid “They didn’t have the usual experiences of going to school and sometimes being teased,” he suggested.
He stated that after a hard day at school, children cannot relax at home due to social media and bullies being able to reach them on their phones, and said, “It must be a terrible situation.”
The author added that she “wanted to cry” when she saw how young girls were influenced by high beauty standards.
