The Daily Telegraph

White children least likely to be self-professed bookworms

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 Black and Asian children enjoy reading more than white children, a study by the National Literacy Trust has found.

Twenty-five per cent of white children involved in the survey of 42,406 pupils aged eight to 18 said that they “very much” enjoy reading.

This is compared with 27.8 per cent of black respondent­s and 28.2 per cent of Asian children.

Meanwhile, nine per cent of white children said they liked books “not at all,” compared with 6.7 per cent of black children and 5.3 per cent of Asian children.

The annual survey also shows that the number of primary school children who enjoy reading a book has reached record levels.

Nearly 78 per cent of youngsters aged eight to 11 said they enjoyed reading, while 55.2 per cent of pupils aged 11-14 also enjoyed doing so.

However, the study shows a continuing gender gap, with boys less likely to enjoy reading than girls.

Jonathan Douglas, from the literacy trust, said: “When children enjoy reading and have books of their own, they do better at school and later in life, so we must continue to do everything we can to inspire children to fall in love with reading for a lifetime.”

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