As anyone who has submitted to the prize will know, the books that aren’t longlisted by our expert team of pre-schoolers and their carers are donated to charity.
If we could, we would showcase each and every book we are sent, as the submissions are always so full of talent and wonder. While in reality this isn’t possible, it’s great to know that those books can still delight readers via the excellent work of Read for Good, who like us are staunch believers in just how far the magic of a book and story can go.
This year, Read for Good have done even more than take on the mantle of the 2020 OBP cardboard box fort (and the amazing book treasure within it). As we announced last month, this year they are helping us put the money that would have gone into the physical prize-giving ceremony to good use, by using it instead to send a set of the shortlisted books to 150 hospitals (and that many settings can only be reached due to the generosity and support of the amazing publishers of the 2020 shortlist).
As such, we thought it was high time to share more details about this amazing charity and the special work they do. Their impressive roster includes a whopping 35 years of the Readathon, and almost a decade of their books to hospitals programme, which is specifically where the Oscar’s Book Prize books go. This essential project puts books into the hands of children that really need them, giving comfort, reassurance, entertainment and delight to children at a time when they need it most.
Lottie, Bristol Hospital
But enough from us. Here’s Read for Good’s excellent Fundraising and Digital Officer Jo Jeffery, who will explain more…
Jo Jeffery, Fundraising and Digital Officer, Read for Good
Hi Jo, you’re Read for Good’s Fundraising and Digital Officer – please could you tell us a little bit about what you do?
As a busy working Mum I have three wonderful days in the Read for Good office, which is always a hive of activity and ideas! I split my time between making applications to Trusts and Foundations to support our hospital programme in getting books, storytellers and bookcases to 30 children’s hospitals nationwide and curating our social media presence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
What is your favourite part of your job?
Oh my gosh, so much of it! I love to see schools participating in their Readathons and sharing their successes with the social media world - this is amplified during World Book Day and during our Citywide Readathons where hundreds of schools set the literacy world alight with their mountains of books, activities and general book excitement! Getting feedback about our storytellers is just wonderful too, they bring such joy to children and their families, who are having a very tough time in hospital. The photos we receive remind us that even in the darkest of times joy is possible!
All of Read for Good’s work stems from a key belief in the power and importance of reading for pleasure in children’s lives. Could you tell us more about why that is?
Ironically, somehow the words ‘reading for pleasure’ are a really inadequate way to describe one of the richest, most powerful experiences in life. Picking up a book, or being read to is transformative in so many ways. So many. Profound things can happen just by reading - building empathy and understanding, experiencing the impossible, travelling to places beyond your imagination, meeting people from all walks of life and getting insight into what makes them tick. For children, well for all of us, these moments are enriching, empowering and rewarding. But best of all, they’re all wrapped up in a great story that makes you want to turn the page. That all this can happen curled up on a sofa with some words on a page is pretty powerful!
Read for Good has some excellent methods to motivate children to read, such as helping others in the Schools project. Do you have any tips for beginning to engage children in reading – even before they can read themselves?
The Read for Good team are the biggest trumpet-blowing, shout-it-from-the-rooftop advocates of children reading for pleasure, whether it be comics or classics, cereal boxes or cake recipes; you name it, we want you to read it … just because it is fun!
The premise of Read for Good is to allow children to choose the books they want to read, rather than the books we want them to read! Now this can be any book, comic, audiobook, recipe book, poetry - anything goes! As you mention children really are motivated by helping other children too - many might have been in hospital themselves, or have a friend who has been in hospital. It is relatable to them and acts as such a positive mechanism for engagement.
As a parent to two children, the daily bedtime book has always been a part of our routine, just 10 minutes at the end of the day can be everything to instil a joy of reading. And I have books everywhere in my house. My son has always been quite a reluctant reader despite loving books, I wanted him to be surrounded by books so we have book piles and shelves everywhere sparking the literacy love! Also things such as CBeebies Bedtime Stories are a great way to engage children with stories in a playful way. My son has loved hearing stories from actors such as Eddie Redmayne.
During lockdown, the outpouring of creativity to find ways to get children listening and loving books and stories has been inspiring - what better way to explore the world when stuck inside our own four walls.
How valuable do you find picture books donated by Oscar’s Book Prize and others? Are there any age range or genres of books that work particularly well?
Receiving Oscar’s Book Prize books is like getting the biggest Christmas present! Honestly, it is always so exciting to see the variety of books, their themes, colours and illustrations. They are often so very tactile too. We send a huge variety of books to children in hospital - from newborn to sixteen year olds! Often families arrive in hospitals with little with them - when rushing out the house in a panic the last thing you pick up is a book. But the feedback we receive reveals that books like those from OBP - brilliant stories, well told, brimming with colour really do lift the spirits of the children and their families who find themselves in hospital.
As you know, each year we box up an extensive number of fabulous picture books to be sent to Read for Good HQ. Along with other donations from publishers, trusts and grants, they then wend their way to bookcases in hospitals across the UK. Could you take us through the likely steps of their journey? How do you decide which books go where?
It’s always a great moment when your delivery arrives - the whole team is so excited to see the wonderful array of books and stories of offer. We have a committed team of fantastic volunteers who will carefully bookplate each of the books, so that a child in hospital knows the book comes with kindness, and they are sorted into 30 piles, packaged and sent to each one of our 30 hospitals.
When the book parcel arrives in the hospital, we know that all the grown-ups in the room are drawn to see what’s inside. The books are thoughtfully put on Read for Good’s mobile bookcase, which then travels around the wards, right up to a child’s bedside. Books are facing out so that it’s really easy for a child’s eye to be drawn to their book. Our bookcase acts as a library, with children being able to read and book and then choose another one. But children are also able to keep the book.
Sharing a story in hospital is so important - bringing families together and giving them a chance to focus on something other than the situation they are in. The books provide entertainment and distraction for sure, but they also soothe, provide relief, reassurance and comfort. The ripple effects of those books go far and wide.
The hospital programme you run is the ultimate home for the OBP books – please could you tell us about the amazing impact the books have? How many children and hospitals do you reach with this scheme?
Last year we reached over 190,000 children in our main hospital programme. Our service runs in thirty hospitals nationwide from Truro to Aberdeen and including Belfast. We sent out over 30,000 books, reaching not only the children in hospital but their siblings too - who are often overlooked and are equally as anxious. One Mum shared such an amazing story with us that I want to pass it on - her son, who is only 6 years old, has had multiple admissions; over 20 operations to be exact. For every operation undergone, her son received a Read for Good book, scribed with the operation number and a little reminder of just how brave he is. These are stored, on his return home, in his Read for Good library - how amazing is that? OBP books really do reach the far corners of a child’s life.
As if your standard hospital programme wasn’t brilliant enough, we’re also thrilled to learn that OBP also directly helps support your new book box scheme, which places brand new books beyond hospitals to a variety of different children's medical settings, including mental health units and hospices. How many settings and children do you reach with this? And what feedback have you had from the children so far?
This was such an exciting bonus and we were over the moon to be able to roll this programme out. We have reached an additional 4,000 children in over 60 settings nationwide. The feedback from healthcare professionals about the scheme was overwhelmingly positive and had me in tears!
“Treatment is long and uncomfortable: these books will be appreciated and enjoyed in what is a difficult time for children and their families. Children receiving proton and radiation therapy relish the opportunity to escape the regulated discomfort and anxiety they experience. We believe that education and personal development through reading can offer a bridge back to normal living, and life on the other side of cancer.“
- Proton Beam Centre, Manchester