What if the key to improving reading attainment isn’t more pressure, but more pleasure?

This unique handbook provides a practical, classroom-ready teaching resource to help your pupils develop a genuine love of reading. By combining the rich anthology of short stories with tips for reading aloud from an Oxford Owl storyteller, you'll engage even the most reluctant readers – and keep them coming back for more.

This is not another comprehension scheme in disguise. Drawing on nearly two decades of professional storytelling practice and aligned with current research, the book offers practical, repeatable strategies proven to inspire reading for pleasure. Suitable for a wide range of abilities across the primary range, each story is paired with ready-to-use lessons designed to build engagement, deepen curiosity, and encourage independent reading habits.

Whether you’re a classroom teacher, literacy lead, or home tutor, this book provides everything you need to turn reading into something your pupils will actively choose. The result is not only improved literacy outcomes, but a lasting shift in how young people see reading.

See your pupils go from reluctant readers, to recreational readers!

This second edition includes a new foreword from Prof Teresa Cremin as well as additional tips for involving parents and adapting the lessons for one-to-one tuition.