BookTrust (where I proudly serve as a Trustee) hosted the Reading Rights Summit recently. We were joined by special guests, the Mayor of Liverpool Steve Rotheram and Liverpudlian Frank Cottrell-Boyce, the Waterstones Children’s Laureate. The event was fittingly held in Liverpool, the birthplace of the first illustrated children’s book, The Butterfly’s Ball, and the Grasshopper’s Feast, written by William Roscoe in 1807.
BookTrust is the UK’s largest reading charity, dedicated to encouraging children to read for enjoyment. By inspiring a love of reading, the charity unlocks a wealth of skills, fosters a lifelong passion for books, and ultimately helps children learn to read, empowering them to find their place in a literate world.
The room at St George’s Hall was filled with people, including four Children’s Book Laureates. Everyone was engaged in supporting reading and we benefitted from all their combined wisdom.
The opening address presented by the current Children’s Laureate, Frank Cottrell-Boyce and supported by the Mayor of Liverpool (who looks and sounds remarkably like John Bishop) was uplifting, positive and reassuring. Books were considered a veritable box of social justice delights, enriching children’s cultural capital by widening their vocabulary and taking them and their imaginations safely into the most thrilling and spine-chilling places. Frank Cottrell-Boyce described reading as ‘providing children with a lifelong hug that stays with them forever’. He shared insights from his visits to prisons, highlighting the high levels of illiteracy, which resonated with me deeply. This knowledge was the driving force behind my decision to develop a prison pack, aimed at helping Early Years colleagues better support children with a parent in prison.
The concerns about the neoliberal agenda that drives many schools to use reading as a decoding exercise was raised by the well-known and outspoken Michael Rosen. He noted that we get top marks for reading skills and lowest for reading for pleasure. Our children are learning all the dance steps but still not dancing! He described how books provide the science of reading by sharing two sentences from Where the Wild Things Are; philosophy, logic, language and reasoning. He concluded with a reminder that illustrations are a complementary process to reading where children fill in the gap, allowing their imagination to run wild.
Across the UK, access to “real” books in libraries and school libraries is patchy and unequal. As a Trustee of my local library (UNLH), I can attest to the battle to save our local library.
Alex McCormick shared her inspiring journey of fundraising to rebuild Spellow Hub Library which was tragically destroyed in the summer riots. Located in an area where the library serves as a pillar of hope, her efforts are a testament to the community’s resilience and determination to restore this vital resource.
In asking the question as to why people would destroy a neutral building, the audience was reminded that for many, libraries and books are intimidating and a reminder of their failure at school and their continuing sense of exclusion. Reading is never enjoyable if it’s a struggle.
The importance of connection ran through the day and Dr Sam Wass from the BabyLab at UEL who studies children’s brains, described the messiness of children’s brain rhythm which are much messier than adults. However, when a child is reading in close contact with an adult, the child’s breathing slows down, their mood becomes quiet, calm and focused and a thread of trust is tightened. I introduced the LEYF Pedagogy of the Sofa, a concept designed to offer staff and children a chance to snuggle up and read together during the day. It also creates a space where children can use the sofa as an island of peace, or simply sit and observe others until they feel ready to engage.
My ask is that all students completing an Early Childhood Education and Care diploma or degree are taught about the science of reading and how to become a good storyteller. For many children, we are the only people who will read to them, so therefore we have to be good or be gone!
I left the event, reaffirmed in the knowledge that reading books is the best thing we can do on so many levels. Reading costs very little, yet it is powerful and joyous. It’s why I love my reading group and my library. So, lets spread the message.
- June O’Sullivan is chief executive of the London Early Years Foundation (LEYF). This blog was first published on the LEYF website.
