Bookstart Baby for parents and carers
Every child in England, Wales and Northern Ireland aged 0 to 12 months is eligible for our free book pack, designed to help families to read and share stories with their child from as early as possible.
The Bookstart Baby pack that parents and carers receive. Book title may vary.
All about Bookstart Baby
Families with babies up to 12 months in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are eligible for a free Bookstart Baby pack, with a billingual pack offered in Wales.
Before your baby’s first birthday, your health visitor, registrar or other health professional will give you a free Bookstart Baby pack from BookTrust. This pack is full of ideas on how to share stories and rhymes and support your baby’s brain and language development.
Bookstart Baby is a free reading initiative from BookTrust, the UK’s largest children’s reading charity. We’re dedicated to helping every child to become a reader.
If you are a parent or carer, in England, looking to receive a Bookstart Baby pack, use this link to contact your Bookstart Coordinator.
Why share books and stories with your baby?
It’s never too early to start sharing stories with your baby! Rhyming, reading and sharing stories can help you:
- Bond with your baby
- Support your baby’s brain and language development
- Build a bedtime routine
Sharing a book with a child is fun – it’s a time for closeness, laughing and talking together.
Top tips for reading together
- Find somewhere quiet away from noise, TV and mobile phones.
- Take time to look and talk about the pictures.
- It doesn’t matter if your baby chews books to start with. Soon they’ll enjoy helping you turn the pages!
Read even more tips in this handy guide, available in 25 different languages:
More help for parents on our website
-
Sharing stories with your child is a great way to have a moment of closeness, laughing and talking together. It can also help them learn more about the world around them.
-
A soothing, gentle story or poem can really help with your baby’s sleep routine – and it makes for perfect bonding time, too.
-
Read along with Baby’s Day by Little Tiger Press, including a version with top tips.
-
Mum Liz shares how receiving Bookstart Baby from her local library has benefitted her family, and why she feels it’s important to develop her baby daughter’s relationships with books as early as possible.
-
Looking for a great book on a theme? Our booklists can help you discover some brilliant books that children will love