BookBrunch

An extraordinary children’s book world gathering took place on Wednesday this week (10 June) at the Penguin offices on the Strand. We met to discuss collective lobbying of the Government for schools to have a mandatory reading policy. The initiative builds on Michael Rosen’s documentary, Just Read, and his 20-point plan for a book-loving school, already submitted to Government ministers Ed Balls and Jim Knight.

The gathering was led by Celia Rees, Chair of the Society of Authors’ Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group, and by Elaine McQuade, MD of Scholastic Children’s Books, and Chair of the Publishers Association’s Children’s Book Group. Michael Rosen addressed the assembly, and discussions followed about what needed to be done - including, for examples, the reinstatement of the Schools Library Service and introducing a knowledge of books to teacher training.

Those present included representatives of Booktrust, The National Literary Trust, The Reading Agency, The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, the Youth Libraries Group, the School Libraries Association, the Association of Senior Children’s and Educational Librarians, and (in a personal capacity) the National Strategies for Literacy in Primary Education, as well as authors, teachers, booksellers, agents, academics, reviewers and publishers, with representatives from Bloomsbury, Egmont, Faber, Frances Lincoln, Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Orion, Penguin, Random House and Simon & Schuster.

The campaign hopes to enlist a wider group of supporters still, including adult authors, an even more comprehensive list of publishers (both adults’ and children’s), booksellers and academics, and other interested organisations such as the Poetry Society. It will embrace all the many initiatives already working towards similar ends, such as Reading Connects, the Summer Reading Challenge, Creative Partnerships, and the Campaign for the Book, and it hopes to take advantage of the consultation period for the Rose Review on the teaching of early reading.

Such a collaboration, between organisations who might normally felt to be in competition with each other, is rare in any sector.  For all these bodies and individuals to unite for a common aim is evidence of a passionate sense of purpose and a real need. The future not only of a creative industry that exports its products to the world, but also of generations of children whose prospects (social, economic and personal) are damaged by the government-led “worksheet culture” of schools, is at stake. It is a cause everyone on the BookBrunch circuit should subscribe to.

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