Morpurgo, M. (2016, September 21) Book Trust Annual Lecture. TES Magazine.
Beloved Children’s author Michael Morpurgo in this Book Trust Annual Lecture takes up the issue of the importance of a reading culture where society as a whole values books, literature and most of all libraries. He pauses and makes the strong point that a love of reading can provide both the obvious and less obvious benefits of reading such as: a life-long love of reading; the widening and deepening of knowledge and understanding; the ability to empathise, to explore and discover, to be comforted, excited, provoked and challenged. Morpurgo goes on to lament that schools and teachers are forced into a manner of teaching literacy which is fearful for the teachers and the learners. He concludes this lively lecture – which traverses the importance of the literary canon and the fun of reading for pleasure and joy – by suggesting that schools have the ability to kill the joy of reading. He claims that current pedagogy in reading in the UK which is driven by performance targets is doing just that.
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