Besides keeping children occupied, there are as many good reasons to encourage them to read during the summer holidays as there are good books.
As many teachers will attest, children who do not read over the summer often regress in their reading skill, to the extent that they may return to school several months behind where they were before the holidays; meanwhile, those who do read regularly may move ahead.
The holidays also give children a chance to break free from their school reading lists and choose a few books to read purely for pleasure while extending their literacy skills.
Books featuring wizards, goblins and magic are popular, with several children's writers following in J. K. Rowling's footsteps. Some of the favourite children's characters, such as Thomas the Tank Engine and Milly Molly Mandy, have stood the test of time while others have lost their appeal.
Education Post polled three bookshops - Dymocks Booksellers, the Hong Kong Book Centre and Page One - to find out what's hot and what's not this summer. Winnie the Pooh, Postman Pat and Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland are all on the out list, said Lausann Butt, shop manager at Dymocks in Windsor House.
Roald Dahl, author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda and other modern fables championing the downtrodden, and the teen writer Judy Blume have also, surprisingly, lost out to a new generation of writers. According to Ms Butt, Dahl's novels are more popular as school texts.
