BookTrust bookgifting schemes (United Kingdom)

Each year we reach 3.4 million children across the UK with books, resources and support to help develop a love of reading, because we know that reading can transform lives.

Bookstart has two universal packs, which every child will be gifted. Bookstart Baby is gifted from 0-12 months, predominantly through health visitors. Bookstart Treasure is gifted at 3-4 years of age, through a number of settings including nurseries. Bookstart also has a number of additional needs resources for children who are deaf, blind or partially sighted, or who have disabilities that impact on or delay the development of their fine motor skills. We also have a dual language resource, in over 30 languages.

Time to Read gives a free book to enjoy and share at home, gifted to every school reception child (age 4-5) in England, delivered via primary schools. Research shows that a child who reads for fun will do better in all subjects, even maths.

Story Hunters is our reading adventure for Year 4 (age 8-9) children, designed especially to help struggling or reluctant readers. To encourage a love of reading, each pupil will get their own monthly pack of books and activities over a six-month period.

Letterbox Club focuses on improving the educational outlook for children aged 3-13 in foster families by providing them with a parcel of books, maths activities and educational materials every month for six months.

Pori Drwy Stori is the national programme for Reception-aged children in Wales, run by BookTrust Cymru. It is fully bilingual and is funded by Welsh Government to support literacy, numeracy and family engagement in the Foundation Phase.

Bookbuzz supports schools to encourage reading for pleasure. Participating schools give their students the opportunity to choose their own book to keep from a list of 17 titles suitable for children in Year 7 or 8 (ages 11-13) and selected by a panel of experts.

The School Library Pack is a reading for pleasure programme which is available free to any secondary school or education provider in England with Year 7 (age 11-12) students. Containing over 40 free books, the pack not only boosts library resources but also encourages students to try reading different types of books.

Spark is a programme for special schools designed to inspire a love of stories and books in children with additional needs.

Our ‘free books’ reading programmes are made possible thanks to an innovative public/private partnership between the government and our publisher partners.

These projects are run by BookTrust (United Kingdom).

https://www.booktrust.org.uk/supporting-you/practitioners/our-programmes/