#Chances4Children: Children's laureate joins authors in call for library funding

Over the next year, Cressida Cowell, author of the How to Train Your Dragon series, will work alongside reading charity BookTrust to assist six primary schools in developing a better reading culture for pupils.

Schools taking part in the initiative - Benwick Primary School, in Cambridgeshire, Dinnington Community Primary School, in Rotherham, Griffin Primary School, in Wandsworth, Saviour CE Primary, in Manchester, Skerne Park Primary School, in Darlington and Woodchurch C of E Primary School, in the Wirral.

All schools on the programme have at least one in four pupils eligible for free school meals.

Each school will have a dedicated library space created by campaign sponsors. The project sets out to spotlight the four pillars of a ‘gold standard’ library: space, book provision, expertise and whole-school and community involvement.

Cowell has also published an open letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, calling for a ring-fenced yearly investment of £100m for primary school libraries across England.

Children from the poorest communities will be worst affected by a lack of accessible library spaces, Cowell warns, citing that while every prison has a statutory library, one in eight primary schools has no library space.

She writes: “How is it fair that some children are being given this immeasurable advantage in life, but stark book poverty means many more are denied this same chance to change their future?”

Cowell’s open letter has been signed by 10 fellow children’s authors including Jacqueline Wilson and Michael Rosen, as well as a number of reading charity chief executives such as Jonathan Douglas of the National Literacy Trust and Cassie Chadderton of World Book Day.

Cowell calls the proposed £100m annual investment a “dedicated boost” to develop a culture of reading for pleasure among primary aged children.

New libraries for the six schools involved in the ‘Life-Changing Libraries’ campaign are set to open in June 2021, with building commencing this month.

Each library will be stocked with 1,000 titles, donated by publishers and selected by BookTrust’s selection team with guidance from the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE).

Staff from schools involved will also gain access to the CLPE’s Power of Reading training and membership, and will receive specialised training from the School Library Association to support them in getting the project off the ground.

Diana Gerald, chief executive at BookTrust, said: "It is impossible to overstate the life-changing impact that books and reading have on a child's life prospects, their mental health, wellbeing, self-esteem, educational achievement and so much more.

“As custodians of the prestigious Waterstones Children's Laureate role, BookTrust is delighted to be supporting Cressida's 'Life-Changing Libraries' initiative, and helping develop new library spaces that inspire a long-standing reading for pleasure culture within these six selected schools." 

In a tweet about the initiative, Cowell spoke of the need to reverse “the spiralling inequality in education”. 

She said: “Put simply, libraries change lives. Literacy changes lives.”