BookTrust Christmas appeal: ‘BookTrust helps us show parents how important they are’

Angela Russell is founder of Unity Matters, a community group in Brixton, London. 

“We’re all about helping communities connect, while offering peer-to-peer support and early intervention,” she says. ​“It is about empowering parents, so they recognise how all the things they do with their children really make a difference.”

Each Saturday, Unity Matters hosts a popular stay-and-play session for dads and male carers, where they enjoy a range of play activities that support their child’s speech and language, social development and early reading, and meet others. 

For Angela and her team, it’s vital that during these sessions, families feel relaxed and motivated to explore the everyday magic of sharing books as a family – particularly for those who aren’t confident readers themselves.

“It’s about having fun with literacy and books,” she says. ​“We really support them to experience the richness of sharing books with their children.”

Being able to use BookTrust programmes – including the BookTrust Storyteller Kit to deliver storytimes for male carers – helps Angela to show parents there are so many different ways to enjoy stories. 

“I really like the little props and additional things in the packs, like the finger puppet. There are prompts on how to use the books with children, what to highlight on the pages, things that you can speak about and notice within each book.”

“The dual language book packs from BookTrust are also wonderful, families really embrace them. In Lambeth, we’ve got such a rich culture, with so many different languages spoken, and we’re very lucky to be able to celebrate this through gifting BookTrust’s dual language books to families.”

“When a new parent or carer comes along for the first time, it’s really welcoming to be given something they can take home and use in their home learning environment. They can share that BookTrust pack with their co-parent or extended family, and share that feeling of having fun with books.” 

Will has been coming along to Dads’ Stay and Play for more than two years now with his son Marlow – and he and his partner are expecting their second child any day now. 

“At first you feel quite nervous coming here as a new dad,” he says. ​“But it’s a calm, educational place to be, and an opportunity to meet other dads. It’s refreshing. 

“We get given books, we do storytime. When I first came here, I didn’t know any of the songs, so I was just miming along at first.

“It’s been really good for Marlow’s development. I think a lot of his learning and speech has come from reading. It’s made me think about sharing books with our new baby, and for Marlow to be part of that experience as well.”

“Sometimes the male carers’ own literacy skills might not be where they think it should be,” says Angela. ​“They will say: ​‘I don’t do the reading with my child, I’ll leave that to granny or mum. 

“We say to them: ​‘It’s more about looking at the pictures and talking about them, rather than focusing on the words.’ And I think that gives kind of a relief to fathers and male carers.” 

“If we empower them to really focus on what they can do, we can really celebrate those small moments. 

Angela adds: ​“Sharing stories with families is just so important. It really is that bond, that connection. It’s an experience where you can share moments that just really bring people together. Having these resources from BookTrust is just so important for our community.”