Author Cressida Cowell has argued that the industry will become "dead in the water" without more support for children's reading, as she reiterated her campaign to make school libraries a statutory requirement.
The Waterstones children's laureate told around 300 delegates at the Bookseller Children's Conference at County Hall in London on Monday (23rd September) why children's engagement with books must be encouraged at every opportunity.
In her endnote speech, ‘Reading is Magic and Magic should be for Everyone', the How to Train Your Dragon author said: "If you don't get them reading as children then the industry is dead in the water." Reading is most important for children in how it promotes intelligence, creativity and empathy, describing reading as "creativity in action", while films "tell you how things should look and sound". She spoke of how she is not temped to jump ship for Hollywood: "People say, ‘have you thought of writing for the movies?' As if that a more superior, a more exciting and more modern thing to do.