In 2003 Michael Morpurgo was appointed children’s laureate, following hot-on-the-heels of Quentin Blake and Anne Fine. Here he discusses the current state of literature and literacy within the classrooms in the UK – and it's not all good news.

If you take a snapshot of the state of children’s literature in the UK at present it would indeed be a glowing picture. Six out of twenty of the most borrowed authors from our libraries are children’s writers or illustrators. In recent hardback bestseller lists 6 out of the top 10 were children’s books and a children’s book was also top of the bestselling paperbacks. There are books, good books too for every taste, beautifully designed and produced, brilliantly marketed. The lions and lionesses of the children’s book world are household names, Alhberg, Blake, Briggs, Browne, Colfer, Fine, Foreman, Horowitz, King-Smith, McGough, Pullman, Rosen, Rowling, Wilson. Their books sell in millions all over the world, their books are widely dramatised and much filmed – Northern Lights to Sheep Pig, The Snowman to Harry Potter. There are prestigious prizes, bustling book festivals all over the country, and dozens of authors, poets, storytellers and illustrators can be found every school day, visiting schools up and down the country. Literacy has been a major focus of government educational policy. A glowing snapshot as I say. And the camera never lies. Or does it?

One in five of our children leave primary school without being able to read or write properly. School library provision, text book provision is being cut back. All too many have an absurdly low budget for books – way below the provision for computers for example. Some primary schools spend as little as £10 per child per year on books. Thousands of schools never have an author visit. The National Literacy strategy instead of proving to be a springboard for reading and a love of literature, has all too often been used too narrowly, too prescriptively, too unimaginatively. Books in schools are frequently simply used by teachers and seen by children as mere educational tools.

The truth gleaned from admittedly anecdotal evidence and from a blizzard of often unreliable statistics is not easy to assess. There is clear evidence though of an ever widening gap between those children who read and those who do not. The millions of children who read, buy more books and visit more libraries, are avid readers and are more likely to become readers in adult life, with all that access to knowledge and understanding so necessary for discovery and self-knowledge in a complex world. But those who never take to reading, to whom books remain closed to them all their lives, are counted in their millions too. This burgeoning gap must be unacceptable and acutely worrying in a civilized democracy. Since there is clear historic evidence that those who read are more likely to achieve, to fulfill their potential, it is therefore hugely important to close this gap. How can this be done?

First we have to bring parents into the world of books. Many parents of course read to their children – unquestionably the surest way to bring children to a love of books – but many do not. So more programmes that engage parents in the process are vital. Teachers have to be supported. In their training there should always be a course in children’s literature for primary school teachers. Many teachers faced with teaching literacy are not enthusiastic readers themselves, and that’s not their fault. So how can they possibly bring children to a love of books? And even if they do have a love of books, there is so little time to share that love with their children. They should then be allowed the time in the curriculum simply to read to the children – half an hour a day would be fine.

But if we want teachers to enthuse our children, to make readers of them, then we have to make sure they have the books. A well-stocked library should be obligatory in every school, as in New Zealand. And there should be a librarian to run it. And there should be at least £35 spent per child per year in the primary school. Give the teachers the wherewithal, the training, the time, the books, and children’s lives could be transformed.

And the media can be a huge help too. We’ve lost storytelling on main stream radio and television. No ‘Listen with Mother’. No ‘Children’s Hour’. No ‘Jackanory’. If we want our children to be truly literate, if we want a universal reading culture, then it’s up to us all to make it happen. And we can, and we must.

Michael Morpurgo was the third British Children's laureate and has published over 90 books for children of all ages. He lives in Devon where he runs the Farms for City Children project, offering young people the opportunity to spend time on a working farm.

Michael Morpurgo's successor to this prestigious post was announced in May 2005, the award-winning children's writer Jacqueline Wilson is the fourth Children's Laureate.