Queen Camilla's Christmas gift of Impossible Creatures to 800,000 children is well-aimed and well-meant. But it reveals how we've come to think literacy works: as something bestowed. From France's pass Culture to the economics of non-fiction, forty years of making children's books suggests a different answer - and a longer clock.

Why does the white working-class education gap persist? From lost industries and early language delays to poor attendance and a shrinking reading culture, too many pupils are being failed before they begin. This blog explores the causes, and the practical fixes, that could restore dignity, skills and opportunity.