Children’s Author Book Readings – Free Online Videos for Primary Schools

Bring the magic of reading and stories into your classroom with free, high-quality video readings from some of the UK’s (and the world’s) best children’s authors. These short extracts and performances are taken from Mr Dilly Meets live-streamed events and are perfect for inspiring reading for pleasure, introducing new books, and supporting literacy learning.

Browse by theme to find the perfect story for your pupils, or explore our complete YouTube playlists for even more author readings going back to 2021.

 

Featured Latest Author Readings

Display 6–9 most recent author readings with thumbnail + author name + book title + age range.

Button under each: Watch Reading → (links to YouTube timestamp for now).

Tip: Use square or 16:9 thumbnails with clear book covers or author headshots.

Thumbnail image (author + book cover if possible)

  1. Title (H3): “[Author Name] reads from Book Title”

  2. Small text: Age range, genre, and a one-line teaser

 

Browse by Theme / Genre

Pick a theme and discover brilliant book extracts read aloud by the authors themselves.

Each card → takes you to a filtered section further down the page. When they click, it doesn’t open a new page — instead it scrolls them down to the matching section further down the same page where you’ve grouped together the relevant readings.

Adventure & Mystery – exciting scenes with maps, magnifying glass, hidden doors.

  1. Fantasy & Magic – castles, dragons, spell books, glowing stars.

  2. Nature & the Environment – trees, animals, rivers, maybe a globe. (already done above)

  3. Funny Stories – laughing characters, silly hats, banana peels, comic speech bubbles.

  4. History & Time Travel – clock faces, old buildings, timelines, historical outfits.

  5. Poetry & Performance – microphone, stage lights, open book with words floating out.

  6. Non-fiction & Real World – fact-based books, globe, magnifying glass, science icons.

  7. Picture Books & Early Readers – big, colourful books, friendly characters, oversized pencils.

 

Explore All Author Readings on YouTube

Want even more? Explore the Mr Dilly complete YouTube playlist with a whole load of author readings from Mr Dilly Meets since 2021 — perfect for storytime, assemblies, and library sessions.

 

Coming Soon

We’re adding new stand-alone author reading clips all the time. Check back soon for more individual readings to share with your pupils.