"The importance of reading" is searched hundreds of times a day, and most of what it returns is a list of benefits with no evidence behind them. The evidence exists, and it is more persuasive than the slogans, so this page gives it: what the studies actually found about minutes, words, age and later results; what reading builds that no other activity does; what reading does at each age from birth to 14; the three mistakes that make a reluctant reader; and a plan for twenty minutes a day that fits a working family. The printable has the plan, the by-age table and a reading log.
Download the twenty-minute-a-day reading plan (PDF) (the evidence in one table, what to do at each age, the plan, the five-finger test, and a four-week reading log; two pages, free).
What the research actually shows
| Finding | The study | The number |
|---|---|---|
| Minutes a day become millions of words a year | Anderson, Wilson and Fielding (1988), fifth graders' reading outside school | About 20 minutes a day: 1.8 million words a year. 5 minutes: 282,000. 1 minute: 8,000. The top readers met more words in a year than the bottom readers would in a decade |
| Reading by the end of third grade predicts graduation | Annie E. Casey Foundation, Hernandez (2011), nearly 4,000 children followed | Children not proficient in reading by the end of third grade were four times more likely to leave high school without a diploma; for poor children, six times |
| Being read to at 4 to 5 shows up at 8 to 9 | Kalb and van Ours (2013), Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, over 4,000 children | Read to six or seven days a week: about six months ahead in reading and in numeracy by age 8 to 9, after family background was accounted for |
| Reading for pleasure predicts results independently of income | OECD, PISA 2009, 15-year-olds in 65 countries | Students who read for enjoyment daily scored the equivalent of about a year and a half of schooling ahead of those who did not; the effect held across income levels |
| Reading builds vocabulary that conversation cannot | Hayes and Ahrens (1988), word frequency in speech and print | A children's book contains about 50 percent more rare words per thousand than adult prime-time television or adult conversation; printed text is where uncommon words live |
| Reading aloud changes the brain of a preschooler | Hutton and colleagues (2015), fMRI of 3- to 5-year-olds | Children from homes with more reading aloud showed more activation in the brain regions for meaning and mental imagery while listening to stories |
| Daily reading aloud drops sharply at 5 | Scholastic Kids and Family Reading Report (2019) | Only about a third of children aged 6 to 8 are read to five or more days a week, against over half of 3- to 5-year-olds; the fall coincides with the age at which it matters most |
Two things these findings have in common: the effect is about volume (minutes and words, not technique), and it compounds. A child who reads twenty minutes a day from age 5 meets tens of millions of words by 14 that a child reading five minutes a day never meets, and most of a reader's vocabulary comes from exactly that exposure.
What reading builds that nothing else does
- Vocabulary. Conversation uses a few thousand common words; print uses tens of thousands. The words a child needs for science, history and the tests are met in books or not at all.
- Knowledge. Comprehension is mostly knowledge: a child who knows what a harbour is understands a passage about ships. Reading widely is how a child acquires the background that every later text assumes.
- Attention. Twenty minutes with one text is the longest sustained attention most children practise in a day. It transfers to maths problems, to listening and to exams.
- Writing. Sentence structure, punctuation and the rhythm of a paragraph are absorbed from reading long before they are taught.
- Empathy and the inner life. Fiction is the only place a child spends an hour inside someone else's head; the research on reading fiction and understanding other people is consistent.
- Independence. A child who can learn from a book can learn anything without a teacher present, which is what secondary school and university require.
What reading does at each age
| Age | What matters | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 2 | Hearing language; the rhythm of speech; pointing and naming; the habit of a book at bedtime | Board books daily; the same book many times; let the baby hold and chew it |
| 3 to 5 | Vocabulary; story structure; print awareness (letters, left to right); the alphabet and sounds; the pleasure | Read aloud every day, 15 to 20 minutes; picture books with rich words; talk about the story; rhymes and letter games |
| 5 to 7 | Learning to read: phonics, sight words, fluency; keeping the pleasure while the effort is high | The child reads to you 10 minutes (easy books), you read to them 15 minutes (harder books); patience with sounding out |
| 7 to 9 | Fluency and volume: the third-grade turning point; the switch from learning to read to reading to learn | 20 minutes a day of self-chosen reading; series fiction and non-fiction; keep reading aloud at bedtime |
| 9 to 11 | Stamina; longer books; non-fiction for knowledge; the first classics | Library visits; let them choose; talk about what they read; a shared book you both read |
| 11 to 14 | Reading for pleasure survives or dies here; vocabulary for secondary school; the SAT, GCSE and IB texts | Protect the 20 minutes against screens; young adult fiction, biography, science; audiobooks count for stamina, not for decoding |
The two years that matter most are 3 to 5 (being read to) and 7 to 9 (volume), and they are the two where the habit most often lapses: the first because parents stop reading aloud once the child can read, the second because screens arrive.
The three mistakes that make a reluctant reader
- Stopping reading aloud when the child can read. A 7-year-old can decode books far below the level they can understand; reading aloud to them keeps the vocabulary and the pleasure growing while their own reading catches up. Continue to 10 or 11.
- Books that are too hard. A child who cannot read five words on a page is not reading, they are failing. The five-finger test: five unknown words on a page means put it back.
- Reading as a chore or a bargaining chip. "Twenty minutes of reading before screen time" teaches that reading is the price of screens. Keep the time, drop the trade.
If the reluctance persists, the level or the decoding may be the issue: the five-minute check in how to tutor a 3rd grader in reading shows which; the twelve things that make reading fun again are in how to make reading fun for kids who struggle.
The twenty-minute-a-day plan
| Minutes | What | |
|---|---|---|
| Under 7 | 10 + 15 | The child reads an easy book to you; you read a harder one to them |
| 7 to 11 | 20 | Self-chosen reading, same time every day (after dinner or at bedtime works for most families), plus 10 minutes read aloud at bedtime when you can |
| 11 to 14 | 20 to 30 | Self-chosen, phone in another room; a book you are both reading once a term |
Rules that make it stick: the child chooses (comics, non-fiction, re-reads and series all count); the same time daily, so it is a habit not a decision; a visible log (the printable has one); a library or bookshop visit every fortnight; and the adults read too, where the child can see. Twenty minutes is about 7,000 words for a fluent 9-year-old and 1.8 million words a year, which is the single cheapest investment in a child's education that exists.
Download the twenty-minute-a-day reading plan (PDF)
Where to get help
A 1-on-1 online reading comprehension class with a master's-qualified English tutor, for children of 6 to 14: the five-minute check in the first class, texts at the right level on a shared screen, vocabulary and comprehension built the way the research says they grow, and the words-per-minute figure sent to you every fortnight. The free 30-minute first class is a real lesson on a book the child brings.
Questions parents ask
1Why is reading important for children?
2How much should a child read each day?
3At what age should you start reading to a child?
4Does reading on a screen count?
5What if my child hates reading?
See how we teach this, 1-on-1 online →
Shobha
Founder and lead tutor, Science with Shobha
Teaching maths, science and English to children online since 2018. 500+ students, 20+ tutors, families in nine countries.