In these busy days of competing priorities, reading often takes a back page.  Newington Head of Library and Information Services, Ms Linda Munns, reminds us that many of the endorphins we seek are only a book away.

Often parents query why it is that reading becomes a secondary pastime as children enter adolescence. We lament the range of distractions that seem to get in the way of feasting on literature simply for pleasure, and regularly.  

Sport training. Assignments. Social media. An endless litany of possible diversions. 

We know that ever increasing demands on our time – the sheer pace of the weekly routine – can significantly interrupt the flow of downtime, shared family experiences, stealing moments to sit quietly together reading the printed word. 

If this real world presents as fast and furious, sometimes we forget that transportive, free, ‘fantastical’ adventures live between the covers of books: no passport required, expensive tickets, additional luggage, jostling queues to freedom. You can journey anywhere that an author and your creativity take you, any time! 

The 80^th Children’s Book Week this year focuses on this fact that you can ‘Book an Adventure’, encouraging all of us to ‘imagine, explore, and create’ our own adventures through deep diving into ‘other’ worlds that flourish between pages of books. But let’s remember, humanity has been sustained by shared stories across time; whether knowledge and wonderment have been shared orally, depicted visually on walls of rock, or vellum, or carved in ancient tombs, these adventures have fed our knowledge of each other and preserved an indelible record of the human story.  

How do we, in this contemporary age, continue to feed this rich legacy? The recipe for success has been well documented through extensive research into the life-long benefits of reading: on well-being, improved academic success, and a fostered sense of community when great material is shared and titles ‘paid forward’. Researchers identify that critical thinking capabilities – essential to honing informed judgements – build over time with regular exposure to reading a wide range of material. Empathy, as well as global awareness is encouraged when exposed to various cultures, perspectives, and ideas, allowing students to broaden their horizons¹ . 

As parents and carers, we hold a privileged mentoring role, and we can play an active part in feeding our children’s reading palates. Reading to and with them in a dedicated space – at the heart of family life – will celebrate the value of books and instil a lifelong love of such shared, immersive moments.  

At Newington such spaces exist daily in the lives of students. At the Senior college campus alone, our Library is teeming with 22,500 ‘worlds’ in which to escape in a welcoming, inclusive, vibrant, communally active hub at the centre of the campus. Choice is unlimited, reading passionately encouraged, with fiction fervently flying off the Headmaster’s Reading Challenge shelves and nearby stacks as classes roam the collection in search of their next peer recommended read. Within the welcoming cocoon of words that spin off the page and weave captivating, evocative mindscapes, time stands still for just the briefest of essential moments as the ‘voices’ of characters speak to us of different worlds, or help us make sense of our own, or discover within ourselves just what’s possible if we dare. With a book in hand, we are never alone. 

And between those enticing covers?  

Take a peak, and leap.