By David Reedy and Alice Reedy
In our last blog for the Book Squad, we wrote about what children had told us influenced their independent choice of reading material, particularly books. One of our tentative conclusions was that the children didn’t seem to have a developed vocabulary to talk about the genre of books they liked to read. This, we thought, might need to be developed to help children make even better choices and support their engagement with Reading for Pleasure (RfP). We decided to go back to some primary schools in London to explore this more fully.
The questions we wanted to address were:
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What do primary-aged children know and understand about literary genre?
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Does children’s knowledge/understanding of genre support their RfP and play a part in their developing reader identity?
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How might educators develop and build on this knowledge/understanding to support children’s engagement in reading for pleasure?
We asked 26 ten and eleven year old children in 3 different schools in East London, as well as their 5 teachers about this. The schools served a wide range of ethnic and economic populations.
What do primary-aged children know and understand about literary genre?
We found, contrary to what we suggested in our last study, that the children did understand genre, particularly regarding different kinds of literary fiction, and could relate this to their independent reading and the texts that they study in class. Their engagement with genre suggests that this knowledge could be harnessed to help maintain and develop various dimensions of RfP and reading engagement.
The most popular genres that were identified by children were (in descending order): mystery, funny/jokes/comedy, fantasy, horror, adventure, comics, myths and legends, and diaries. The most mentioned individual texts/series were Harry Potter and Dork Diaries. If comics (as a genre) were combined with comedy, then this would be the most popular choice, surpassing mystery.
Children were often able to give clear reasons for their preferences. For example, when asked why he liked to read horror, Aaron said:
‘Because it gives you, like, goosebumps. And I like it- like that chill that is creeping up to you.’
He was clear about the effect that this genre of text had on him, and why it was an enjoyable experience to read this type of literature. Another child, Alfie, also mentioned horror as a favourite genre, noting that:
‘They’re actually really exciting, because you don't know what's going to happen next. Also, I like reading funny books, yeah, even though those are pretty different.’
Like Alfie, nearly all of the children named more than one genre. They had a clear sense of the specific genres that they preferred and often expressed a multitude of these preferences. These children were fully aware of their own likes and dislikes, and thus their reader identity.
However, non-fiction genres and forms were not so commonly mentioned. We wondered if It could be that non-fiction is not as prevalent in the teachers’ curriculum planning, or in school libraries or just that children associate the term ‘genre’ more closely with novels and other similar fictional text-types. Research shows that children and young people have been seen to be interested in non-fiction in a writing context and enjoy reading non-fiction outside of school (Ashley, 2025 for example). but this was not generally reflected in the children’s responses. Non-fiction genres such as biography, information texts and science/nature writing were not mentioned but can be a source of considerable pleasure with positive educational outcomes. Perhaps a wider range of non-fiction texts may need to have a higher profile in classrooms and libraries both formally and informally, with encouragement (not direction) for children to explore them. This may better support diverse reader identities and notions of what reading is. We felt that our future research might involve asking children specifically about their knowledge of non-fictional genres and texts to explore this area further.
Does children’s knowledge/understanding of genre play a part in their reader identity?
The children did use their knowledge and understanding of genre to inform their free choice of text. They had an awareness of their own preferences, usually for multiple genres, and used this to select material they were more likely to enjoy. Children were also well aware of their friends and peers genre preferences, being able and excited to discuss what their friends like to read and what preferences they have in common, highlighting an existing social engagement in reading. Akila told us:
‘A lot of people in my class and my friends are reading funny comic-like books like Dogman or Diary of a Wimpy Kid- everyone likes them, sometimes I can’t even find them because everyone is trying to read the same ones! We’re all arguing over who gets to read the two new ones.’
Akila and her classmates are building a community of readers who share preferences for comic-style, humorous fiction.
Facilitating, encouraging and continuing these conversations amongst children about genre preferences and recommendations would help further develop children’s diverse reader identities and desire to read.
How might educators develop and build on this knowledge/understanding to support children’s engagement in reading for pleasure?
We asked the teachers of the children if they drew attention to genre as part of their teaching. This they emphatically did as part of formal English teaching, with positive effect. Rizwaan, a Year 6 teacher, responded, and his approach was typical of how the teachers viewed the teaching of genre:
‘We start off by discussing what type of text. It’s at first fiction or non-fiction, which they're easily able to distinguish. For genre, we try to delve a bit more deeper in terms of, OK, we know it's a fiction book, but what type of fiction book is it? Is it an adventure? Is it like a mystery book? So after having that discussion with them and then after then reading the text they should, they are able to say what genre is and what are the main characteristics of those types of genres.’
However, this exploration was not so high profile in talking about children’s independent reading, where the teachers’ comment were much more tentative.
Thus, finding more opportunities to discuss genres and related preferences informally between teachers and children, and children with their peers, could support the development of reader identities, communities, and success rate in identifying texts they will enjoy, enhancing intrinsic motivation.
A further interesting finding related to the teachers were that the overwhelming majority of the children had no idea what their teachers liked to read. The teachers were not sharing their own reading identities, whether as adults or as children themselves. Clare, for example, said:
‘I've never seen like, in school, my teacher read a book of her own or like talk about one, so I've only seen her read books that we read as a class.’
As Teresa Cremin and colleagues research has shown (2024) , teachers sharing their own reading habits, preferences and reading histories from outside of school helps in developing an embedded culture of RfP in their classrooms.
As mentioned above, the children didn’t name many non-fiction genres (such as biography or sports) as part of their RfP. This poses an interesting question: how do educators balance exploring and expanding children’s knowledge of different genres with respecting and supporting their existing preferences and autonomy? Should one point children towards genres they haven’t had much experience of? This would help to ensure that a range of non-fiction is planned for if done as part of the formal curriculum, but would it undermine choice and autonomy in the context of volitional reading?
Perhaps future studies could seek to focus on how schools and educators can adhere to the principles of existing research-informed RfP pedagogy, respecting current reader identities and giving children autonomy and freedom of choice, while still working to widen perspectives and diversify identities by opening children’s eyes to potentially unexplored texts and genres that they might like, particularly in regard to non-fiction.
The children we spoke to did understand genre, and they were using it to help them find reading material that they would likely enjoy. This highlights an exciting opportunity for educators and parents/carers alike to support and build on this understanding as an approach to RfP development.
( This blog is based on our research article:
Reedy, A., & Reedy, D. (2025). How do children understand and talk about literary genre, and how might this support their engagement with reading for pleasure? Education 3-13, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2025.2597401 )
References
Ashley, K. 2025. What on Earth! Magazine – RfP Engagement Study: Phase 2 Report. Available at: https://cdn.ourfp.org/wp-content/uploads/20240709194640/Whaton-Earth-Phase-1-reportfor-website.pdf
Cremin, T., H. Hendry, L. Chamberlain, and S. Hulston. 2024. Approaches to Reading and Writing for Pleasure: An Executive Summary of the Research. Milton Keynes: Open University.