Welcome, 2026

Yeah, yeah - I know it's Feb.

It’s definitely too late for a new year, new me post.

But since I’ve been absent from your inbox for two months¹, I wanted to lay out what 2026 looks like for this Substack.

First though, a quick reminder of the why:

I’m based in the UK, and the initial number that got me fired up was 34.6% - that’s the number of children in the UK who said they read for pleasure in 2024².

Why does that matter? A variety of reasons, such as:

… all serious intellectual work happens on the page, and we shouldn’t pretend otherwise. If you want to contribute to the world of ideas, if you want to entertain and manipulate complex thoughts, you have to read and write.³

We (those currently raising the next generation) have a responsibility to prepare children for the world they have entered.

That said, Storygram’s remit is mainly finding ways to get kids reading for pleasure. If we inadvertently save the world at the same time, it’s a bonus.

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Coming up in 2026

Enough worthiness for one post. Let’s get to the fun stuff… what can you look forward to on the Storygram Substack in 2026?

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1. A new book (released in serial) 🤓

I’ve been working on a non-fiction book for about a year (squeezing in time where I can). Here’s the scope:

If you want to help children to grow in knowledge, wisdom, and character, this book will help you understand why reading gives children a unique advantage, how to protect children from distraction, and how to motivate them to enjoy reading.

There are three broad themes:

1. Motivate your children to read (tools and ideas to get kids excited about books)

2. Protect the next generation of thinkers (rethinking our approach to topics including technology, education, and boredom)

3. Learn why reading gives an advantage (knowledge is power)

I’ve settled on this order for now because for those who are most interested in action, part 1 will give them the tools. They can learn about why it is important later, if they wish. My suspicion is that most adults who are reading a book about the importance of children reading, will not primarily need telling why it is important.

I’m not promising a strict release schedule, however I’m aiming to publish at least one chapter per month, possibly divided into multiple posts if they are long.

Access to these chapters will be free for a couple of weeks, but will become paywalled as they enter the archive.

Feedback please!

I’m seeking feedback on these posts — positive or negative. I want to know my blind spots and have my thinking challenged by readers before I put anything to print.

I’m considering calling it something along the lines of: An Unfair Advantage: Raising Tomorrow’s Thinkers. Or possibly: Raising Long-Form Thinkers in a Short-Form World. Reply with your suggestions!

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2. Footnotes (revisited) 🎶

In 2025 I started Friday Footnotes, an attempt to post regular updates without the formality of a long-read. I managed 17 weeks of these until client work took over in December.

I’ll still write Footnotes in 2026, but not every week⁴. I found that I spent a lot of time working on these posts when really they should be the overflow of my research and other writing. Also, they were getting a bit long, eh?

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3. Podcast 🎙️

Oi — don’t roll your eyes!⁵

Now there’s no promises with this one. As part of the book writing process, I would love to do a pilot series of conversations with parents — looking at their wins and challenges in motivating their own kids to read. More details to come, and only if I have fewer migraines than I have had in the last couple of months.

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4. Book recommendations 📚

There was some interest when I posted about the childhood book that stuck with me. I’d like to spend more time digging into the great children’s books (new and old alike), and so am looking to write the occasional book recommendation.

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Thank you

Finally, a huge thank you to those who have stuck with my writing in 2025. I hear consistency is the main thing with online writing, so that’s a shame 😉

Looking forward to much more to come this year.

Graham x

PS If you have ideas for the sort of things you’d love me to write about, please drop a comment or send me a message.

1. Apologies, client work took over! Another day, another dollar.

2. Literacy Trust report, 2024

3. Text is King by Adam Mastroianni. This is worth a read for a skeptical take on the doom of reading decline. I don’t claim to know whether children reading less is going to plunge us into a dark age, but I do know that if they don’t enjoy reading, they are missing out. I would also say that tracking how much kids are reading by how many books are being bought is kind of nonsense. People are buying kids books because they want them to read, which is laudable. But it’s not evidence that they are reading.

4. Comment with your new name suggestions! Fairly Frequent Footnotes? Fluctuating Footnotes?

5. Yeah, podcasting is a bit cringe in 2026 I guess. But it’s still one of the most natural ways to share stories and experiences. Also, if ‘cringe’ is enough to put you off trying something, you’ll never do anything much. If it really sucks, I’ll stop - how’s that?