Today is National Libraries Day and I can think of no better way to celebrate than to take children to visit their local libraries. Even better, it is the perfect opportunity for a child’s first ever visit to a library and hopefully to instill a lifelong habit. I still remember being taken to the library as a …
Bookstart
NATIONAL BOOKSTART WEEK: The Runaway Princess
This week is National Bookstart Week. Bookstart is extremely close to my heart (I have mentioned this before, notably in a major rant here) and such an vital scheme in encouraging a love of books and reading in children that I feel that anyone who is any kind of children’s book enthusiast should all be duty-bound to support. The …
BOOKSTART 20: Our twenty favourite books to share
I’ll happily admit that I go on about Bookstart a lot. I talked about it a little bit here, when the government first announced they were cutting the funding to Booktrust’s bookgifting schemes.Bookstart is 20 years old this year, having been first established in 1992, though it did not become a national scheme until roughly 2000. You can …
How dare they?
The government has decided this week to suspend all funding to the three bookgifting schemes for children administered by Booktrust in England. The three schemes are: Under which babies receive a free book pack at aged 9 months, 18 months and 3 years. Under which children receive a free book pack in Reception class Under which children …