Getting children reading from their earliest days

Name: William Joseph
Price range: $

Reading and sharing stories brings profound and wide-ranging benefits that can have a lifelong positive impact on the lives of children of all ages and backgrounds.

Find out more about the benefits of reading

How we help

Our programmes and support are designed to help children and families start and continue reading and sharing stories, because we believe it should be a part of childhood for all. We work with thousands of local partners to support children in every community in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Early years professionals

Teachers and schools

Health professionals

Care and fostering professionals

Librarians and libraries

Parents and families

Reading Rights Summit FCB outside with card

Reading Rights: books build a brighter future

Over the next two years, Waterstones Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce has pledged to amplify the national conversation about the role books and reading for pleasure play in transforming children’s lives.

Find out more about Reading Rights

What we do

Each year we get millions of children reading, with our programmes, support and campaigns.

Bookstart

Discover the joy of shared reading from birth. Explore our flagship Early Years programmes today.
BookTrust Storytime

Join free and fun library story sessions for 0 to 5s. Make reading a magical part of family life.
Research and impact

See how our research shapes real change. Learn what works to build lifelong reading habits.
Letterbox Club

Inspire reading and numeracy for 3 to 13s in care. Discover the joy of books sent straight to them.
Bookbuzz

Support your secondary students' reading for pleasure. Sign up your school to Bookbuzz today.
Our Writer in Residence

Meet Camilla Reid, our current Writer in Residence. Explore her fresh take on children's books.

Become a BookTrust Friend

Fundraise for us

Our impact

Who we are

BookTrust is the UK's largest children's reading charity with a history that stretches back over 100 years. Our focus is on helping children in the key developmental years from birth to the first years of primary school. We do this because of the strong evidence base which shows that reading with children from the earliest age and establishing a regular reading habit impacts on a wide range of outcomes both in the short term and later in life.

Find out more about us

If I had never had the lady come over and give me the Bookstart stuff when my son was born, I wouldn't have known... he wouldn't have had that experience from such a young age and to be where he is now.
Mum, talking about receiving Bookstart Baby