June 3, 2019,Times: Children’s literature expert warns on low reading skills https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/children-s-literature-expert-warns-on-low-reading-skills-xpsv5pv0p The global success of authors such as Julia Donaldson, Ian Rankin and JK Rowling is undermined by Scotland’s falling reading standards, the director of the new National Centre for Children’s Literature has said. Simon Davidson, whose centre has opened at Moat Brae, the Georgian townhouse that inspired JM Barrie to write Peter Pan, said he hoped that the £8 million hub would help to stem the flow of young people who left primary school with poor levels of literacy. Figures released by the Scottish government last year showed 40 per cent of children in the poorest parts of Scotland did not meet expected standards. “The children’s literature sector in Scotland is not as healthy as people perceive,” Mr Davidson said. “It is certainly not flourishing.…
