>Its peer pressure. Monkey see, monkey do

This is absolutely true and key to solving this issue - Parents and the kid's home life are a far bigger influence than their school (is in most cases).

Children learn through imitating those around them, that's how they develop their sense of what is "normal". If there are no books in the house, and the parents don't read themselves, it's almost certain they will grow up reading little to nothing and reading for pleasure will be an activity they won't even consider doing.

So sad :(

>The school library will only let kids check out books from “their” grade level.

This is so bizarre, I've never of such a thing!

What problems do they think they are solving with this policy?!?

Holmes is more fun for me, there is bit more light-heartedness in the stories; And I like his dynamic with Watson, it's no surprise it's been imitated so often by other authors.

It's avoidable to the point of seeming almost deliberate; You practically have to go out of your way to be careless enough to do this.

Penguin have a lovely range of old science fiction, small little books with beautify crisp white covers and minimalist art. Very, very nice:

https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2020/06/penguin-science-fiction