Children, young people and digital reading

Young people most engaged with reading are most likely to read on both paper and screen than their peers with low engagement, finds new research by the National Literacy Trust. A survey of 56,905 children and young people aged 9 to 18 in the UK found that twice as many young people who read above the level expected for their age read fiction both in print and on-screen compared with those who read below the expected level (23.8% vs 12.9%). Launched at an event in Parliament, the research supports the next step in the Axe the Reading Tax campaign, galvanising support from MPs to urge the Chancellor to remove VAT on digital publications, including ebooks and audiobooks, in the Autumn Budget.