The Reader Organisation’s projects with young people exist to share our love of reading and to help them develop their own.

Each week we read with hundreds of young people, including:

• pupils in schools from age 4-18
• excluded teenagers in alternative education settings
• looked-after children in residential care homes, foster placement homes, and care leavers
• young people in disability arts centres
• young people in libraries and community centres

The focus of our weekly groups and one-to-one sessions is entirely on reading for pleasure. This in itself provides great enjoyment but it also offers vital stability for young people in the care system, confidence for struggling readers and a supportive, non-pressured environment for all.

“If we are serious about narrowing the gap between disadvantaged children and those more fortunate, then this is the type of project which should be developed more widely.”

The benefits for young people include:

• Increased personal confidence
• Improved health and well being
• Love of reading
• Greater social skills
• Improved literacy
• Stability and security

The Reader Organisation also coordinates reading and creative arts projects in school holidays, using one book as the focus of the project. We read it together and explore some of the themes and ideas through a number of different activities and art forms, such as photography, cookery and graffiti workshops.

We offer young people continuity through an ongoing relationship with us by giving them the opportunity to become volunteers, undergo work experience, become young ambassadors, speak at events, and move on to become members of our adult groups.

For more information please contact us: info@thereader.org.uk.