Meet *Liv and *Michael – whose foster children receive BookTrust’s Letterbox Club parcels. They’ve seen how reading supports children’s confidence to grow over time, helping them realise they’re capable of amazing things.
Handwritten names of all the books Aanya has read since living with her foster family
*Liv, foster mum to seven-year-old *Aanya
“For the first four months Aanya was here, we wrote down the name of every book she read. We had fifteen A4 pages of paper all over our walls, filled up with handwritten book titles. We’ve kept them, because they’re something she can look back at and be proud of.
“She likes the contact time, that feeling of someone next to her who’s listening to her. She can read in her head, but she much prefers to read out loud, and talk about the pictures and story.
“She loves doing voices, and to pick and choose bits to read. She’ll say: ‘You do one sentence, I’ll do one sentence,’ or ‘You do the left side, I’ll do the right side.’
“She likes being in control when we read. We try to give her as much of that as possible. So much of her life has been out of her control. It’s about feeling like she has a voice.
Liv, foster parent
“Reading helps Aanya in so many ways, but there’s something about falling into a story headfirst, doing accents and different voices, just stepping out of your own situation into something else.
“And being able to express herself. She feels big feelings, and she wants an outlet for them. She loves singing and dancing, and being goofy – she’s full of life. Reading is a really fun way to explore all that silliness!”
“The first time we went to see Aanya in a school assembly, she was the one at the back, giggling, looking a bit bashful, not doing the actions at all.
“Now, in the school’s recent nativity play, she had the lead part. She was narrating the whole lot. She stood at the front so confident, not fazed at all. That was so special for us.
“Aanya’s mum also came to see the play. The school, sweetly, put us together at the front and we were all just completely choked up. We were so proud of how much she’s been through and how she’s taking it all in her stride. Reading has been a huge part of that.”
*Michael, foster dad to eleven-year-old *Leo
BookTrust Letterbox Club parcel, featuring expertly selected, age-appropriate books and maths games
“Leo enjoys lots of the same things as me. We get outdoors, we go to Scouts [I’m a scout leader]. He’s a fun guy, a happy lad, and an avid reader.
“When the BookTrust Letterbox Club packs first came to our home with Leo, I didn’t know much about why we were getting these packages through the post or how often.
“He brought so many of these books with him – and more keep arriving – so I’ve had to buy him a bookshelf. And he doesn’t like giving them away. I’ll say: ‘There’s no space on your bookshelf, shall we donate some?’ And he’s like: ‘No, not yet.’
“I’ll take a look inside the books he’s reading, so I can see what activities the characters are getting up to, and maybe suggest Leo and I do those together.
Sometimes, he struggles to do some things because he thinks he won’t be good enough. When he’s reading, he can see children doing different things. There’s this overall promotion of self-confidence and inquisitiveness, and the reassurance that you can try new things.
Michael, foster parent
“Leo recently sat the Eleven-Plus exam and he passed, so after the summer he’s going to grammar school. Whenever I mention it, people say: ‘Oh, not many looked-after children get to go to grammar school.’
“He said to me after the exam: ‘One question was too hard so I just kept going. Then, when I finished I went back to that question, and I just got it.’ I think his confidence to do that comes from understanding how sentences are constructed and just being comfortable with words. And that comes from reading.”
