From small bookshelves to big habits
In the neat study corner of Quoc Bao, a 3rd grade student at Tho Loc Elementary School (Tho Long commune, Thanh Hoa province), a small bookshelf is neatly arranged with a variety of genres: Children's stories, science books, history, life skills... For Quoc Bao, it is not just books, but a "fortune" he cherishes every day.
Bao has a younger brother 2 years younger, named Quoc Trung. From grade 1, when he was literate, Bao spent time reading stories and books for his younger brother to listen to. The stories and pages of books told by Quoc Bao every day are not only a way for the two brothers to connect, but also become a bridge to bring his younger brother closer to books.
Over time, Quoc Trung also gradually formed a love for reading. Instead of listening to his older brother's stories, Quoc Trung was excited, wanting to hold, read, and explore the world through each page of the book himself. This is also part of the reason why learning Vietnamese for the two brothers is easier than for their peers.
Ms. Cam Van - the mother of the two siblings - said that her children's reading habit was formed very early and not naturally. The family introduced their children to the first books when they were over 1 year old, so that reading gradually became a natural part of daily life.
The important thing is not to force children to read a lot, but to create an environment for children to find joy with books on their own" - Ms. Cam Van said.
School turns reading into an experience
Not only stopping at families, many schools are currently proactively building a reading environment and organizing activities to help students access books in a lively way.
Ms. Nguyen Hong Duyen, librarian at Vinh Tuy Elementary School (Vinh Hung ward, Hanoi) said that the school has implemented many activities such as participating in the Hanoi City's Reading Culture Ambassador contest, online book introduction contests, painting according to books, book introduction propaganda...
To respond to Vietnam Book Day and Reading Culture April 21, this year, the school organizes Book Reading Day with many experiential activities such as drawing according to books, book introduction contests, visiting art book display booths. Reading space is expanded, helping students access books more naturally and interestedly.
In addition, electronic libraries, audiobooks, and digital lectures are also being implemented; the "common library" model in classrooms helps students circulate books, increasing diversity and interaction.
According to Ms. Duyen, although initially there were difficulties due to students' lack of perseverance and low awareness of keeping books, when there was a suitable incentive mechanism, the reading movement gradually became regular and spread throughout the school.
Positive signals from many models in schools
Not only Vinh Tuy Primary School, developing reading culture is also one of the key tasks of the education sector when implementing the 2018 General Education Program, reflected in the requirement for students' self-learning and self-reading abilities.
In fact, in many schools, activities such as "reading class", library reading hours, expanded reading... are increasingly being flexibly included in education plans. Many models of reading culture development are being widely implemented in educational institutions such as "green libraries", "open reading spaces", book introduction contests, reading culture ambassadors... These activities contribute to making reading a part of school life.
Towards the Vietnam Book and Reading Culture Day (April 21st) this year, many activities have been organized by schools. For example, at Luong The Vinh Secondary & High School (Tan Trieu campus, Hanoi), on April 11th, students throughout the school had a day of experience at the Book Festival. Many books from familiar publishers such as Nha Nam, Kim Dong, Alpha Books, Tre, Skybooks are neatly displayed on shelves and display areas in the schoolyard.
Also on the same day, Nguyen Sieu Inter-level School (Hanoi) also organized the 2026 Reading Culture Day with the theme "Reading in the Age of Artificial Intelligence - Reading in the age of AI".
The festival does not only stop at honoring and spreading familiar reading cultural values, but also expands the scope to knowledge of the digital age through a series of activities such as: Workshops experiencing publishing and discussing reading culture in schools; Talk show launching the book "Mechanical learning and human intelligence"...
Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy - Principal of the school, shared: "Reading is no longer a learning skill. It is a way for students to build intellectual bravery and a system of life values.
The principal of Nguyen Sieu Inter-level School mentioned the concept of "Vuong - Tron" and explained that technology is "Tron" - fast, strong, flexible. But reading is "Vuong" - keeping students with a foundation, standard and integrity.
Children can go very fast thanks to AI. But it must be thanks to reading to avoid going in the wrong direction" - Ms. Thuy said.
Ms. Nguyen Phuong Hoa - Principal of Vinh Tuy Primary School also emphasized the view that reading books not only helps students broaden their knowledge but also develops thinking, language skills, communication and personality formation.
Ms. Hoa analyzed that each book carries a rich world of knowledge, providing students with information about different issues and fields according to each age group. In addition to knowledge, reading books helps improve language and communication skills, helps students cultivate vocabulary, improve expressiveness and logical thinking.
A student who has a habit of reading books will find it easier to write essays and present coherent thoughts. Deep understanding helps them to be more confident in themselves in the process of communication, proactively respond, resolve situations that occur more easily and flexibly, thereby forming effective communication skills" - Principal of Vinh Tuy Primary School assessed.
Through the activities of general schools across the country, it is easy to see that the education sector is increasingly interested in developing reading culture in a systematic way, associated with the requirement to innovate teaching and learning methods. Not only stopping at encouraging reading, but also orienting reading skills, exploiting and processing information is also becoming an important part of the process of forming students' abilities.
The role of the family is indispensable
Approaching from an expert perspective, Ms. Kim Thoa - CEO of Tan Viet Books believes that reading culture is not something that can be "taught" to children in a few sessions, but a habit that needs to be "sewn" very early.
Referring to the role of the family, Ms. Thoa also said that reading culture is difficult to form if there is a lack of reading environment in the family. When children do not have bookshelves, do not have reading space and especially lack exemplary behavior from adults, building reading habits will face many limitations.
Agreeing with this view, Ms. Nguyen Phuong Hoa believes that for reading culture to be truly sustainable, the family environment still plays a fundamental role. To build reading habits throughout society, there needs to be a combination of school - family - community.
Parents need to coordinate to set an example and cultivate reading habits at home. In addition, schools need to have more practical reading promotion activities, applying digital technology so that students can read anytime, anywhere" - Ms. Hoa shared.
