What to do if the child doesn't want to read books?

Is reading books being neglected today?

Not at all. The popularity of fictional and voluntarily read books has remained constant over the last ten years and has not declined.
Daniel Süss

If children are not reading, it is because they have not yet found a book that really interests them.

Felix Hüppi

Is there good and bad reading?

Basically, there is no such thing as good or bad reading. There is also no such thing as good or bad writing. Children just read different things these days. We see every day how much they write back and forth on their mobile phones. The basic skill remains. Reading is about putting letters together to form words and then understanding the meaning. The main thing is to use it.
Felix Hüppi, Director of the Kornhaus Libraries

My son doesn't like reading. What can I do to make him enjoy books?

It depends on the right approach. If children aren't reading, it's because they haven't yet found a book that really interests them. After all, every child has a topic that particularly interests them and we help them to get into reading via this topic.

But for starters, these can also be comics such as the «funny paperbacks» or manga books. At first you might just look at the pictures, but at some point you want to know what the story is about.
Felix Hüppi

What is «deep reading»?

In contrast to linear reading, the term «deep reading» has become established for literary reading. It refers to in-depth reading as opposed to more superficial reading online.
Christine Tresch

What distinguishes literary texts from reading online?

Literary texts require us to be attentive. Stories allow us to travel to other worlds, to share in the fate of characters who may have problems that we ourselves also have. The function of language is also different in literature than in informational texts. It can be played with, it provides metaphors and empty spaces.

Reading on the Internet means surfing and zapping and brings quick rewards. It's a completely different way of reading

Christine Tresch

Many young people today can no longer distinguish between a fictional «I» in a literary text and the person of the author. However, this distinction is important when it comes to differentiating between fiction and fact.

It also helps us to deal with factuality and sources differently if we are familiar with fictional narrative styles. In contrast to literary texts, online readings are often short and multimedia-based. Reading on the Internet means surfing and zapping and brings quick rewards. It's a completely different way of reading.
Christine Tresch

How long should you read to children?

As long as they are interested in listening. As a father of four and an author of books for children and young people, I know that you can still read to your 17-year-old daughter if she is interested in the subject.
Thomas Feibel

Are comics still relevant today?

Sure, the classics like «Lucky Luke» or «Asterix» are still doing very well. But there are also manga and Belgian comics. If you go to French libraries, you will find huge sections with «Bandes dessinées», which are also stocked with many graphic novels. This fascinates not only children, but also adults.
Felix Hüppi

Children often play while listening to an audiobook. How much does this distract them from the story?

That's not a problem at all. Children often listen to the same audio book several times while playing, so that they soon know the story by heart and listening carefully is no longer so important. They learn how sentences sound in written language and unconsciously acquire skills that will help them later at school with reading, writing and speaking.

The divided attention between analogue play and listening can also be relaxing, which is hardly the case when playing on a tablet or mobile phone.
Christine Tresch