Not long ago I was having a conversation with a friend while our children were in the school playground. She was worried because her daughter hates reading. The girl is aware that she does not read as well as her classmates, and this upsets her because she enjoys school and...

“Why are we all reading children’s books?” That was the question raised in February by the acerbic cultural critic Norman Lebrecht on Radio 3, the BBC’s high-brow arts station. He grappled with the question with the aid of a panel consisting of children’s writers Anne Fine and Anthony Horowitz; Howard...