
He has made the warning at a Reading Rights Summit taking place in Liverpool this week to urge policymakers to take action to improve children’s access to books.
“Our children are near the top of the global leagues when it comes to the mechanical skill of reading but near the bottom when it comes to reading for pleasure,” said Cottrell- Boyce.
“We've taught them all the steps and the names of all the tunes. But they're not dancing.
"That our children seem to be experiencing some kind of happiness recession at the moment is not surprising, and I believe that the decline in reading too has played its part in this.”
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