‘Reading for Pleasure’ has become a popular phrase in children’s education and literacy. The Open University and United Kingdom Literacy Association have a joint research portal dedicated to the phenomenon (The Open University, 2020), and many extol the benefits: if we can just get our children reading for pleasure, they will be less stressed, more eloquent, and have better opportunities (Serroukh, 2015, p. 29). No wonder that, as of 2013, the National Curriculum for English explicitly emphasises reading “for pleasure” (Atkinson, 2020). Despite all the research and promotion, two questions remain largely unanswered: what is the role of the public library in
promoting reading for pleasure? And what does ‘Reading for Pleasure’ mean for children who, because of impairment, are unlikely to learn to read? In this essay, I will synthesise these two questions and interrogate how public libraries can make ‘Reading for Pleasure’ (RfP) accessible for children who may not achieve conventional literacy.