On International Literacy Day, let’s examine why stories that reflect the children who read them boost both learning and enjoyment.
Think about the last book that felt like it was written just for you. Maybe it used words you say at home. Maybe a character ate the food you’ve had on your dinner table or walked streets that looked like yours. That moment of recognition – ‘this is about someone like me’ – does something special. It tells the reader they belong in this world of books, and that the world of books belongs to them.
Educators sometimes describe books as mirrors and windows. A mirror is a book in which a child sees their own life reflected back at them. Window books give children glimpses into experiences different to their own. Children need both. But for millions of children, the mirror is missing. The books that reach them – if any reach them at all – are written for someone else’s childhood. Someone else’s culture. Someone else’s life experiences.
International Literacy Day turns 60 this year. UNESCO’s 2026 theme, Literacy for people, the planet and prosperity, and the day is a chance to ask what reading has really changed for communities… and what can it still do?
The numbers give us a starting point. In 2024, at least 739 million young people and adults still could not read or write with confidence. Four in 10 children worldwide can’t read and understand a simple story by the end of primary school. That figure is even higher for children in low and middle-income countries, where it’s estimated to be closer to seven in 10 children. Behind those proficiency numbers sits a simpler shortage: across the 76 countries with available data, only 15% of children under five have three or more children’s books at home.
So, there are two gaps: children who have no books at all, and children whose books were written for someone else’s life. These are the gaps in which Library For All works, and we know that simply handing out more books is not the answer. As the World Bank puts it, investing in books “without improving how they are used, or for whom” won’t improve learning. The books matter, but so does what happens next: children need to be able to read them, talk about them, enjoy them, and return to them again and again.
That is why culturally relevant books matter so much. When children see their language, their culture and their everyday lives on the page, they read more, they understand more, and they go on to become engaged learners. That is what we see across the classrooms and communities in which we work: belonging comes first, literacy follows – and literacy is life-changing!
Library For All has spent more than a decade turning that idea into practice. We don’t simply fly in, drop off boxes of books and leave. We work with local partners, educators and communities to create the stories that are missing, then deliver them anywhere – even if we have to jump on horseback to do it. So far, we’ve published more than 5,000 books in over 35 languages, reaching young readers across 20 countries and counting.
Each of those projects was shaped with a community, not for them. In Vanuatu, local workshops produced brand-new stories that were both culturally grounded and ready for classrooms. In Timor-Leste, local authors, educators and language experts helped build a Tetun collection that combined original stories with carefully adapted books for early readers. In Gaza, families have read our stories together for a bit of routine and connection during a very hard time. “Storytime with my children has become a moment we look forward to every day,” one caregiver in Gaza told us.
Our new strategy for 2026-2028 is where our ambition gets bigger. We’re building on three fronts: creating culturally relevant book collections; helping teachers and families turn those books into joyful reading experiences; and strengthening the local systems that keep stories alive long after any single project ends. Our goal is to create reading cultures that outlast us, in even more places than we reach today.
We know we won’t achieve this future on our own. Our contribution is a specific one, and it’s the part we know best: stories about children’s lives that they recognise and want to read. And we’ll keep working in partnership – with educators, researchers, governments, families, communities and children themselves – to carry those books into classrooms, homes and libraries, and to make reading part of children’s everyday lives. Because when children have books that speak to them, and the people and systems around them help them keep reading, bigger and brighter futures become possible.