Bardd Plant Cymru pens poem for 25 years of Bookstart
Published on: 12 December 2017 Author: Anna Coote
A new poem by Casia Wiliam, Bardd Plant Cymru, celebrates 25 years of Bookstart, BookTrust’s national bookgifting programme.
Stori / Story will be shared with families across Wales and describes how special the time spent reading together can be, a message at the heart of the Bookstart programme.
Download your own copy of the poem
Since 1992, BookTrust, the UK’s largest children’s reading charity, has gifted over 34 million books to children across the UK through Bookstart.
The programme aims to help every child get the best possible start in life and to develop a love of books, stories and rhymes. Every child in Wales can receive a special Bookstart pack of books when they are 6 months and 27 months old, usually from their health visitor.
Helen Wales, BookTrust’s Head of Country for Wales:
'We’re thrilled that Casia Wiliam, Bardd Plant Cymru, has written a poem to celebrate Bookstart. Sharing rhymes is such an important part of Bookstart and it is so important to help children develop language skills when they’re young and become great readers and talkers.
'This is a great poem for families with very young children – it’s fun and easy to join in. We encourage everyone to share it with a young child in their life!'
Libraries across Wales hold free Bookstart Rhymetime and Storytime sessions, where families can enjoy stories and rhymes together in a fun and relaxed way.
Casia Wiliam, Bardd Plant Cymru:
'I was delighted to be asked to write a birthday poem for BookTrust Cymru. I had a little boy last year and the free book that we were given in the Bookstart pack is a firm favourite in our house!
'It's incredibly important to start reading with children from an early age - by showing them the spell-binding magic of storytime, they will grow up to be confident readers and writers.'
The Bardd Plant Cymru project ensures that every child in Wales has the opportunity to experiment with Welsh literature, whatever their ability or background. Through workshops, performances and activities, the project introduces literature to children in an energetic, dynamic and exciting way.
The Bardd Plant project is run by Literature Wales with support from Welsh Government, Welsh Books Council, Urdd Gobaith Cymru and S4C.
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