Getting children reading from their earliest days

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.

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.

A child sitting on the floor looking at a book with an illustration of a dinosaur.

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

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Donate

Help us to continue to share the life-changing magic of reading.

Donate to BookTrust today!