Celebrating books

Schools and pupils are being offered the chance to celebrate the joys of reading at the Liverpool Children’s Festival of Reading, which will run from June 24 to July 12.

The festival is a celebration of books for children and young people throughout the city of Liverpool and is an initiative of Liverpool Learning Partnership (LLP), in conjunction with Liverpool schools and other organisations.

A combination of schools events and community/family workshops and readings, which are designed to help foster a love of reading, will take place.

Sessions are located across the city to make the festival more accessible for pupils. Schools will host each session and then other schools can walk or use minibuses to access the author sessions, which will last around an hour in length.

All schools who take part will receive some books for their library as well as resources to help you to embed the sessions into your lessons/extra-curricular groups.
There also will be a competition that will encourage pupils to create a response to the work of the author/illustrator/poet.

Sessions range from ones around picture books for KS1 to a session for secondary based on the relationship between STEM and writing/women in STEM and one session for KS4/5 pupils on representation of LGBT+, disfigurement, disability and difference in fairytales.

Authors involved include: Atinuke, Lorraine Gregory, Matt Oldfield, Saviour Pirotta, Bali Rai, Gabrielle Kent, Karl Nova, Matt Abbott, Shoo Rayner, SF Said, Ross Montgomery, Tom Percival, Jen Campbell, Lauren James, Levi Tafari.

Jenny Holder, reading co-ordinator, said: “We’re also organising a number of community events that we are in the process of putting together.

There will be an event for early years children at Old Swan Library on 22 June.
The particular dates and some other details can be found on www.liverpoolchildrensfestivalofreading.wordpress.com