Innovative Partnerships

Bookstart, the UK version of "Books for BC Babies" (or rather, the prototype of Books for BC Babies), is not only impressive in its mission "to provide a free pack of books to every baby in the UK, to inspire, stimulate and create a love of reading that will give children a flying start in life." It's the partnerships that got my brain juices flowing! The organisation has developed some pretty darn impressive partnerships in their efforts to get the kids into the libraries and reading. I love the "book crawl" idea: every time kids visit the library they earn stickers that can then be traded in for "certificates." The certificates have been designed by well-known authors and illustrators. As the website says, they're "lovely keepsakes of children's earliest years as library members." Partnering with authors/illustrators in this venture is beneficial for everyone (it keeps the publishing wheel going...)

I'm also loving the fact that the libraries and booksellers have collaborated... what a concept! Instead of seeing big box bookstores/independent bookstores as competition, the libraries are working with the stores in their early literacy pursuits. They have a token system integrated with the bookstart packages so everyone receives a voucher towards a book in participating bookstores (over 1200 bookstores are involved! Holy smokes that must have been some work to establish). I'm inspired by this relationship- it truly illustrates how libraries have been continually flexible to make themselves relevant and necessary.

The Every Child Ready to Read program is amazing... I love all the resources that come with the site. I have been to a Saroj Gatong workshop before and learnt many practical ways to integrate educating the parents in with storytimes. I find it gets a bit formulaic sometimes- it seems a bit artificial to pop in things about phonetic awareness during a rhyming book- but overall I think the background information gives us a good basis for programming. It makes me realize we're doing so much more than entertaining young ones... we're actually "literacy professionals" who have created programs thoughtfully with a big picture in mind.