‘Because it reminds me of my culture.’ ‘Because I want to challenge myself.’ ‘Because I like all the stars and the swirls.’ What influences children's independent choice of text?

Abstract This paper examines the perspectives of children in two East London primary schools on what influences their independent choice of text, in the context of developing reading for pleasure in schools. All children in three selected year groups (ages approximately 6, 8 and 10) were invited to take part in the research, and from those that volunteered, six children per year group were randomly selected in each school. These focus groups were then observed choosing reading material from a range of pre‐determined texts which varied in genre, recommended age‐range and representation of diverse groups. The children were then interviewed, with the two researchers seeking to understand the factors that influenced their decisions. A thematic analysis was subsequently conducted to determine the most prevalent of these factors; the researchers identified seven key themes, which will be discussed in this paper. Practical implications that were identified for supporting children to read for pleasure are then suggested, based on these themes.