Shropshire Star

Libraries added to easyJet flights to encourage children to read

It is a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a flybrary…

Published
Books are given out to children on an EasyJet flight to promote the easyJet Book Club, a new initiative supported by childrenÕs author, Dame Jacqueline Wilson, which is designed to promote literacy and encourage kids to read. (Matt Alexander/PA)

EasyJet is hoping to inspire a generation of young flyers to become readers by adding libraries to its planes.

The books in the flybraries – flying libraries – have been chosen by author and former children’s laureate Dame Jacqueline Wilson and include classics like Peter Pan, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland and The Railway Children.

She unveiled her selection at the official launch of the easyJet Book Club at Gatwick Airport.

EasyJet started the flybraries after research found a decline in reading among young children.

The airline polled 2,000 British parents with children aged eight to 12 and found more than eight in 10 parents (83%) say children are reading less in comparison to when they were younger.

Whereas parents would read four books over the summer holidays, on average children now read three.

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