+44 (0) 1273 386849Make Space for Wonder: What Happens When Children Get Curious in a School Library?
October begins with the UK’s National Poetry Day and ends with Halloween. Between the two, the days shorten, the evenings darken, and the natural world generates its own mysteries.
For generations, long autumn evenings have been a time for storytelling. Today, we’re more likely to settle down with a streaming service than gather around a fire! But our appetite for stories hasn’t disappeared. We still enjoy losing ourselves in a book, series, film, or game.
Stories allow us to explore the unfamiliar, and sometimes the frightening, safely through imagination.
From poetry to ghost stories, October invites us to explore the unknown. It’s a wonderful opportunity to consider what sparks our curiosity, why it matters for learning and how school libraries can help children discover the unexpected.
Introducing curiosity and wonder using poetry
For National Poetry Day 2026, with its theme of Wonder, poet Rachel Plummer created a resource exploring Maggie Wang’s poem Let the Night Be Dark.
Rather than treating darkness as something empty or frightening, Wang invites us to imagine the extraordinary things it contains: glowing creatures in the deepest oceans, distant stars and the mysteries of space.
The accompanying activities take children from poetry into marine biology and astronomy, even inviting them to imagine life beneath the icy surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa. What begins with a poem becomes an exploration of science and the universe.
What does research tell us about children's curiosity?
Curiosity often begins in much the same way. Something catches our attention, we want to know more, and suddenly we’re following a trail of discoveries. Researchers call this curiosity-driven learning: learning motivated by the desire to know something, rather than simply completing a task.
A 2025 study published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology investigated curiosity and learning among 32 children aged 10–12. The researchers found that children remembered answers to trivia questions better when they had been curious about them. Curiosity was also associated with a greater desire to explore the subject further.
Another study, published in December 2025 in npj Science of Learning, examined question-asking among 103 children aged five to seven. Children who practised asking questions during science activities subsequently placed greater value on receiving new scientific information. Although the study didn’t demonstrate improvements across every measure of curiosity, it suggested that encouraging questions can influence children’s interest in learning more.
Although neither of these studies examined school libraries directly, they offer an interesting perspective on how curiosity influences children’s learning. But what does research tell us about the role school libraries can play in helping children discover new interests?
What can school libraries offer?
A 2024 literature review by Mahendra, Suprapto and Apriza examined the role of school libraries in developing primary school children’s reading interests and early literacy. The review highlighted the importance of diverse reading materials, engaging activities and positive reading experiences in encouraging children’s interest in books.
Although the research focused on reading and literacy rather than curiosity itself, it reinforces the value of a varied, welcoming library environment. And that gives us plenty of opportunities to introduce children to subjects and ideas they might not otherwise encounter.
For busy school librarians, teachers and volunteers, encouraging curiosity doesn’t have to mean organising additional activities. Small changes can make a difference:
Place books about astronomy alongside mythology, or combine autumn poetry with books about nocturnal animals and folklore.
Ask a child, ‘Have you discovered anything surprising lately?’ rather than only, ‘What would you like to read?’
Allow a few minutes to explore an unfamiliar shelf.
Not every encounter will spark an interest, and not every question will lead to a new passion. That’s part of the unpredictability of curiosity.
We can’t always anticipate what will capture a child’s imagination. But we can create opportunities for something unexpected to catch their attention.
From poetry to ghost stories: Keeping wonder alive
As Halloween approaches, our fascination with the unknown becomes a little more playful. We dress as strange creatures, tell ghost stories and enjoy mysteries that keep us guessing. A good story gives us just enough information to make us want more — or imagine what might happen next.
Science and storytelling aren’t the same, of course. But both can begin with something unfamiliar that makes us stop and wonder. And school libraries bring those possibilities together. They offer children opportunities to encounter the real and the imagined, discover unfamiliar ideas and develop questions they hadn’t thought to ask.
Curiosity doesn’t belong to any particular season. But October offers a lovely reminder that the unknown isn’t always something to fear. Sometimes it’s something to explore. After all, Maggie Wang’s poem invites us to look again at darkness and discover the extraordinary things we might otherwise overlook.
Curiosity in school libraries: Who knows what a child might discover the next time they wander along a library shelf?
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