Anthony Horowitz

Why young readers (especially boys) turn to Alex Rider is explained in this article from the Washington Post. However, Horowitz himself isn't too worried about the gender divide in reading as he thinks it "disguises questions that are much, much more serious that we should be asking, such as, for example, are wealthy children reading more than less privileged ones? Are white children reading more than children from ethnic minorities?"

We have a good stock of Anthony Horowitz books in Jordanhill Library.

Children's writing

In January, the National Literacy Trust held a policy breakfast, "Enjoyment, confidence and reading: the keys for the success of writing in the 21st century." At the event, a range of expert leaders discussed issues facing writing in schools, as well as the best ways to teach and support writing in the future. Bestselling children’s author and screenwriter Anthony Horowitz led the discussion, throughout which, the group repeatedly stressed the absolute centrality of reading to writing. In fact, it is possible to tell what a child has been reading from the style and tone of
their writing. Children are sometimes identified as having a lack of imagination when in reality the problem is a poverty of reading. Children obtain imaginative building blocks from reading stories and reading is, therefore, essential to imagination and writing. You can read the whole report here.

Anthony Horowitz interview

Each month, NLT News (National Literacy Trust) interviews a well-known figure in the world of reading and literacy. In the latest one, bestselling children’s author and screenwriter Anthony Horowitz talks about the literacy issues closest to his heart.

Anthony Horowitz

Anthony Horowitz was one of the few authors to make it into the top 10 reading favourites in the survey quoted in my last post. His series about Alex Rider, teenage spy, catapulted him to international fame but still leaves him a long way behind Heat magazine! Read an interview with Horowitz published in yesterday's Glasgow Herald, see his own website for more information, or check out Jordanhill Library's holdings of his books.