Mr Norman Grimes

We work with early years settings and professionals in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to deliver our Bookstart Baby, Bookstart Toddler and Preschooler Programmes to help them to get families sharing books and stories together. We have tips and support to help partners to show parents the best ways to engage young children in reading.

You’ll find a wealth of tips, story activities and book recommendations to help our partners bring books and stories to life for children and families and inspire them to share stories together at home. 

We offer books and resources for primary school children, delivered directly through schools. Our materials are designed to help educators support families in reading together, boost children’s learning, and keep the tradition of bedtime stories alive.

We support children’s reading journeys from the early years of life right up until the first years of secondary school. 

We support health teams ranging from health visitors to neonatal units to bring the benefits of sharing books and stories to babies and children. Our Bookstart packs are designed to help families get started with reading and can be used by our health partners within their existing service provision.

We know something profound happens in those magical moments when an adult and child share a story together: shared attention, emotional availability, reciprocity, mutual calm, enjoyment, and so much more. 

BookTrust partners with organisations and practitioners working daily with families. We ensure our programmes are part of the wider support to increase life-chances for children from vulnerable family backgrounds. 

We support parents and carers.  Fitting in some time together to share a story or book with your child can: 

• help your child learn words and express themselves.
• help them feel close and connected to you
• teach them about the world and about different kinds of people.
• be relaxing and help your child learn to regulate their feelings. 
• spark their imagination and creativity that you might see in their pretend play and the stories they make up! 

You don’t have to read a book cover to cover, get all the words right or even read them at all (you can just talk about the pictures!) to experience these benefits.