Reading should be a pleasure for every child, says author

If your child is a reluctant reader, take heart from Keith Gray’s story

Author Keith Gray grew up on the edge of Grimsby on the east coast of England, in a house without books. “My parents certainly wanted me to learn to read but because they were never interested in books themselves, they left it for school to teach me,” explains Keith.

“Unfortunately, it meant I only ever associated reading with homework and for many years, the teachers labelled me as a ‘reluctant reader’. It took me until I was a teenager before it really clicked that books could be entertainment and fun and escapist.

“Now I live in Dunfermline, have a three-year-old daughter and our house is kind of the opposite. My daughter sometimes takes books instead of a teddy to bed.

Once Keith discovered a love of reading, he immediately wanted to write his own stories, too. “I used to do my mates’ English homework for them. If the teacher said we had to write a story for homework, I’d write the stories, my friends would pick one, copy it up in their own handwriting and give it in. If they got top marks, grade A, they owed me £3. But if they got aB, I only charged £2. And just a quid for a C. It was a great little scheme, until we got caught . . .” he recalls.

Keith wrote lots of half-books and unfinished “masterpieces” in his teens. “I was 21 when I actually managed to finish a full-length novel and it was published when I was 24,” he says.

“I write young adult (YA) fiction – novels aimed at teenagers about life as a teenager. Most of my books are modern stories set in schools or at home but they all have a good dollop of adventure or mystery,” he continues.

“My latest book, The Last Soldier, is a short novel specifically written for struggling, reluctant and dyslexic readers.

“I suppose, in many ways, I was trying to write the kind of book that would have hooked me back when I was a reluctant teenager. I wanted to write a book that was surprising and compelling but also straightforward to read. And with The Last Soldier, I’ve tried to cram as much story into as few pages as possible.”

I used to do my mates’ homework for them

Once Keith discovered a love of reading, he found he wanted to write his own stories.