Our work with disadvantaged children
Booktrust works with disadvantaged children in a number of ways.
We believe that with our targeted programmes designed to highlight the importance of reading for pleasure, we can affect the lives of children from diverse educational, social or economic backgrounds.
Together, we can use the power of stories and reading to unlock the potential of the UK's most disadvantaged children.
Booktrust reviews a range of high quality books for children and teenagers, which are ideal for reading for pleasure.
We work with a team of independent external reviewers, including teachers, librarians, booksellers, journalists and parents. We also work in consultation with disability specialist Alexandra Strick and children's books specialist Wendy Cooling. Titles selected include those that reflect the cultural diversity of British young readers and those that contain positive images of disability. The titles we feature encompass a wide variety of genres. We prioritise fiction titles, including picture books and graphic novels, books in translation, books for reluctant readers and collections of short stories and poetry.
We also run a regular series of seminars and workshops on issues facing disadvantaged children, at London Book Fair and beyond, and in the past have covered topics like diversity and equality, LGBT representation in books, dyslexia and positive images of disabled people.
Below you'll find our current roster of projects that target disadvantaged children.
Beyond Booked Up
The Beyond Booked Up programme is aimed at pupils in both Year 7 and 8 and includes a range of accessible resources designed to help develop speaking, listening, writing and reading skills for 11- to 13-year-olds. Beyond Booked Up has been designed to ignite pupils' interest in books and reading by introducing them to a range of the very best writing across a number of different formats.
Bookmark
For anyone seeking information, books or advice relating to disability and children's books, including parents, young people, teachers, early years and health professionals, librarians, publishers, writers, illustrators and researchers. Includes What's the Story? - a resource to support the development of positive attitudes towards disability, both in the classroom and in the wider community.
Bookstart Corner
Bookstart Corner supports children’s centres across England to help families that need the most support to develop a love of stories, books and rhymes. Aimed at families with children aged 12-30 months, the programme allows centres to offer intensive support for parents and carers so that they may read together for pleasure with their children with confidence.
Children's Reading Fund
This year we launched the Children's Reading Fund, which is all about improving the life chances for disadvantaged children in the UK. Specifically targeting children aged between 4 and 11, the new fund will use books and e-books, CDs, games and performance to inspire children to engage more with reading and writing and thus to change their own story.
Summer Active
Summer Active aims to promote children's enjoyment of books and encourage them to see reading as a pleasurable activity rather than a chore. The move from primary to secondary school is particularly important in the development of reading skills and this programme will help support children during that time that have not reached their expected reading level in English. It will encourage reading for pleasure and help bring the experience, enjoyment and confidence of reading to all.
The Ant Club
The Ant Club is a programme offered to selected primary schools providing free resources for Reception and Year 1 classes. All the free materials are designed to inspire, boost skills, build confidence and help children get carried away with words.
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