Raising Readers: How to Nurture a Child’s Love of Books by Megan Daley

Title: Raising Readers: How to Nurture a Child’s Love of Books

Author: Megan Daley

Genre: Non-fiction

Publisher: UQP

Published: 29^th July 2025

Format: Paperback

Pages: 288

Price: $34.99

Synopsis: Now fully revised and updated, Raising Readers is a practical and essential guide that contains everything you need to know about childhood literacy, written by teacher-librarian extraordinaire Megan Daley. Includes a foreword from Australian Children’s Laureate Sally Rippin.

Some kids refuse to read, others won’t stop – not even at the dinner table! Either way, many parents question the best way to support their child’s literacy journey. When can you start reading to your child? How do you find that special book to inspire a reluctant reader? What can you do to keep your tween reading in their adolescent years?

Award-winning teacher-librarian Megan Daley, the passionate voice behind the Your Kids Next Read podcast has the answers to all these questions and more. She unpacks her twenty years of experience into this personable and accessible guide, enhanced with firsthand accounts from well-known Australian authors and educators. This new edition has been completely revised to include the latest information on the Science of Reading, a chapter on inclusivity and representation, as well as new and updated recommended reading lists. Raising Readers is a must-have resource for parents, carers and educators to help the children in their lives fall in love with books.

~*~

Reading as a child is powerful, magical and empowering. Becoming a reader as a child turns people into readers as adults, and readers of the future. And it can take just one book to capture a child’s imagination, to spark that love of reading to take us on a journey of reading and fictional worlds throughout our entire lives. For some people, like me, reading clicks, and it can click early. My reading journey has been varied, and I read early and have often read beyond my reading level. These days, I read what I truly enjoy. But for some people, it may not be as easy. It could be a learning or reading disability. They might not have found the right book that makes them fall in love with reading. Or, they may have a myriad of other factors going on that impact their relationship with books and reading.

This is where superstar teacher-librarian Megan Daley’s book, Raising Readers comes in. I read the new and revised edition, and as a reader, a reviewer and aunt (I’m sure I’ll come to be known as the book aunt at some stage), it resonated with me. Megan’s chapters on early reading highlighted how lucky I was to have books around me, to have my reading nurtured and to be able to ‘just read’ – to have it click so easily. Megan’s fabulously informative book explores reading from birth and all the way through, because learning to read as a child and nurturing that is what creates the readers of the future. No adult would be reading books by authors like Kate Forsyth, Sulari Gentill, or Natasha Lester without reading as a child.

The message I got was that any book can be that book that sparks a love of reading. A picture book, a novel, a graphic novel, or an audiobook. Megan explores the wondrous world of reading and the different ways we can make reading work for the children in our life. Sometimes, they need a different approach that incorporates different media at times, or ways to navigate reading versus screen time, as well as finding a way to read amidst all those distractions we have with technology these days. Reading also creates memories, and the books that we love as kids have lasting impacts on our lives. This is an impressive book that is accessible and easy-to-read, and the best thing I found was that it gives readers lists of books associated with each chapter or topic. These can be brilliant starting points, especially when it comes to reading diversely. The book lists for LGTBQIA authors, disabled authors, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors are there to guide you.

Megan has also had people in the industry contribute. One example that stood out to me was the entry for books by disabled authors by Kate Foster. It indicated that we still have a long way to go getting books by disabled authors to readers. It, alongside the other diversity entries, was a good indication about the issue of diverse books and the importance of these books. Why is this important? Because diverse books allow children who come from diverse backgrounds or different lives see themselves in books, and kids who, for example, aren’t disabled, learn more about disability. Hopefully in authentic ways, because #OwnVoices are an important aspect of creating and nurturing readers.

I think this book can be used beyond getting children into reading as well. There are good chapters about book clubs that I think adults can use when creating their own book clubs. They could use the book club questions from an early chapter as well. And I felt like there was good advice about finding the books that spark something for you that are relevant for all ages.

Reading this book brought so much of my young reading experience back to me, and is also a love letter to books, reading, and libraries. My school library was a sanctuary, somewhere to read and find new books, and so much else. It was used more often in junior school when we had regular library lessons. A place for research, back when we used books and encyclopedias for research. It took a bit longer, but having librarians who could help was one of the best things about the library.

So, this is a book for everyone. A book that can help kids and adults become readers. To learn to love books and reading, and find the books that work for them, and to encourage young readers to love reading and books. This is a great resource for the home, the classroom and the library if you want to help people become readers.