K.S Aitken is the pen name for Keswick School Writers & Illustrators Club. K.S. stands for Keswick School and Aitken is in memory of Rosemary Aitken who was Head Girl of the school in 1932 and later served as a foundation governor for eleven years. When she died in 1990, Rosemary left money to the school's library, which is also named after her.

The Reader was written over a period of eighteen months by seventeen people: Helen Robinson, Christine Smith, Isabella Hankin, Heather Matthews, Amy Lord, Holly Adams, Georgia Howsen, Amy Fell, Ruth Jennings, Emily Dunn, Anisya Morrison, Samuel Hignett, Kristen Henderson, Ashia Cannon, Bryony Sleath, Andalucia Armstrong Squires and Jenny Dunn.