BookTrust

BookTrust
Formation 1921
Legal status Independent Charity
Purpose BookTrust is the UK's largest children's reading. BookTrust aims to transform lives by getting children and families reading.
Location
  • London
Chief Executive
 Diana Gerald
Website booktrust.org.uk

BookTrust is an independent British literacy charity based in London, England. The charity works across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

BookTrust was founded in 1921 by Hugh Walpole, Stanley Unwin, and Maurice Marston and Harold Macmillan. Its current Chief Executive is Diana Gerald, who took over from Viv Bird in early 2015.

The charity’s aims are to transform lives through reading. Each year, BookTrust reaches 3.4 million children across the UK with books, resources and support to help develop a love of reading, from ages 0 to 16. [1]

History

In 1921, BookTrust (formerly the Society of Bookmen) was founded by authors Hugh Walpole and John Galsworthy, publishers Stanley Unwin and Maurice Marston and politician Harold Macmillan.

At one of the Society's early meetings in 1924, it was proposed that a National Book Council should be formed; the first meeting of the newly formed National Book Council took place in Eastbourne on 11 September 1924.

In 1969, BookTrust’s then Chief Executive, Martyn Goff, secured funding from the Arts Council. This allowed the charity to move in new directions. Ultimately this paved the way for BookTrust to manage several established literary prizes, including the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (formerly The Orange Prize for Fiction) and The Sunday Times Short Story Award. The charity now focuses on books for children and one of its current prizes is the Blue Peter Books Awards. [2]

In a bid to demonstrate and champion the benefits of reading from a young age, Bookstart was created in 1992 by the charity in partnership with libraries and health visitors.

Bookstart

Bookstart is BookTrust’s early years programme. Bookstart gifts books to children between the ages of 0-1 and 3-4. The pilot for the programme was initiated in Birmingham in 1992 and involved 300 babies. BookTrust commissioned Professor Barry Wade and Dr Maggie Moore to both promote and research the Bookstart project. The project built on previous research which identified the significance of reading with very young children.[3]

The research found that Bookstart children began school with significant advantages and with higher attainment in all aspects of the nine pre-school baseline assessments. By 1999, many local authorities were eager to participate in the Bookstart programme and by March 2000, 92% of local authorities had joined the programme. The success of the Bookstart programmes was helped by library staff willing to become "Bookstart Coordinators".

Bookstart offers book packs for children with additional needs,[4] these include:

  • Bookshine for children who are deaf
  • Booktouch for children who are blind or partially sighted
  • Bookstart Star for children with conditions affecting their fine motor skills

National Bookstart Week

National Bookstart Week is a themed celebration that takes place in early June. Bookstart gifts a free copy of a selected children’s book each year. In recent years, Bookstart have also gifted books to people in vulnerable settings, these include neonatal units and food banks.[5]

The week aims to get families to read with their children by encouraging libraries and early years' settings to host themed Storytime and Rhymetime events, although many libraries host these events all year round. Some of the more traditional Storytime events have been adapted by libraries – Bournemouth host a ‘wriggle on the beach’ event each year.

Bookgifting programmes

As well as Bookstart, BookTrust also runs the following programmes and campaigns that give out books, resources and support to children:

  • Time to Read: Time to Read packs give a free book to every Reception aged child in England, when they are 4 or 5-years-old. [6]
  • Pori Drwy Stori: Pori Drwy Stori is funded by the Welsh Government and aims to support children's literacy in Reception-aged classes. Pori Drwy Stori is a dual-language programme.
  • Bookbuzz: Bookbuzz offers every student in Year 7 or 8 the chance to choose their own book from a list of titles for children aged 11-13, regardless of their reading ability or learning age. The books are selected by a panel of experts. [7]
  • The School Library Pack: School Library Pack is a free offering of books and resources to schools in England with Year 7 (or equivalent) students. The programme is funded by Arts Council England. [8]
  • Letterbox Club: Letterbox Club is run in partnership with the University of Leicester. The Letterbox Club pack consists of books, activities and stationery that is provided to children aged 3 to 13 years old in foster families. Children are enrolled by local authorities and schools.
  • Spark: Spark is a programme for special schools designed to inspire a love of stories and books in children with additional needs.

Prizes

  • Blue Peter Book Awards: The Blue Peter Book Awards is run in collaboration with CBBC's Blue Peter. The award has recognised authors and illustrators since 2000.
  • Children’s Laureate: The role of Children’s Laureate is awarded once every two years to an eminent writer or illustrator of children’s books.[9] The Laureate must have a substantial body of work; previous Children's Laureates include Michael Morpurgo, Julia Donaldson and Malorie Blackman. Writer and illustrator Chris Riddell was appointed as 2015-17's Children's Laureate in June 2015. In June 2017, Lauren Child took over as Children's Laureate. [10]
  • Lifetime Achievement Award: The BookTrust Lifetime Achievement Award is given to a children's writer or illustrator whose body of work merits recognition for a lifetime's achievement in children's literature. It was set up in 2015. In 2018, We're Going on a Bear Hunt illustrator Helen Oxenbury and her husband John Burningham, author and artist behind Granpa, became the first duo to win the award. [11]
  • In Other Words: In Other Words is a prize to promote the translation and UK publication of outstanding children's literature from around the world.

Other

In December 2010 it was announced that the government would cut its entire £13 million annual grant to BookTrust's English bookgifting schemes. The schemes provided more than two million packs of books to English children annually. After a public campaign by authors including Philip Pullman and Andrew Motion, the government announced it would negotiate with BookTrust on renewal of the funding.

BookTrust is responsible for a number of successful national reading promotions, sponsored book prizes and creative reading projects aimed at encouraging readers to discover and enjoy books. This includes Bookstart, the national programme that works through locally based organisations to give a free pack of books to young children, with guidance materials for parents and carers. On Friday 17 December 2010, Book Trust received notification that funding from the Department of Education for its bookgifting programmes (Bookstart, Booktime and Booked Up) in England was to be cut by 100% from 1 April 2011.

References

  1. ↑ BookTrust, "Programmes and campaigns". Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  2. ↑ Lovereading, "Blue Peter Book Awards 2018". Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  3. ↑ Bookstart, "History of Bookstart". Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  4. ↑ Bookstart, "Packs for children with additional needs". Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  5. ↑ Booktrust, "BookTrust gifts books to neonatal units". Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  6. ↑ Primary Times, "BookTrust gifts every reception aged child in England with picture book The Bumblebear". Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  7. ↑ School Library Association, "BookTrust announces new books for Bookbuzz 2018 programme". Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  8. ↑ Association of School and College Leaders, "Free books for your school library". Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  9. ↑ "About the Waterstones Children's Laureate".
  10. ↑ BookTrust, "Lauren Child becomes the tenth Waterstones Children’s Laureate". Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  11. ↑ BBC, "Married artists win BookTrust Lifetime Achievement Award". Retrieved 10 August 2018.
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