‘Fill your house with stacks of books, in all the crannies and all the nooks’ (Dr Seuss)
Many of us don’t need much encouragement to follow the good doctor’s orders, but not every child has ready access to reading matter. Book Week Scotland 2015 starts on 23rd November, with events taking place all over the country, and as part of the celebrations the Scottish Book Trust is giving a Bookbug Primary One Family Bag to every Primary 1 child in Scotland.
The bag is produced by the Trust and enhanced by a partnership with Education Scotland and the Scottish Government as part of Read, Write, Count, a new literacy and numeracy campaign aimed at children in P1 to P3; it is intended to help to create a lasting link between reading at school and at home.  As children learn to engage with a whole new world of stories in the classroom, families can open up an exciting world of reading by sharing the books in the bag together.
The books, all by Scottish authors or illustrators, will comprise the Bookbug shortlist for the Scottish Children’s Book Awards 2016. The titles include Never Tickle a Tiger by Pamela Butchart and illustrated by Marc Boutavant, Mouse’s First Night at Moonlight School by Simon Puttock and illustrated by Ali Pye and Wanted! Ralfy Rabbit, Book Burglar by Emily MacKenzie.
An activity book, pencils, whiteboard and pens will be included in the bag to help support learning at home, together with additional counting and writing ideas for parents and children to explore together; the bag will also contain Ziggy and Maggie Start School, a children’s book about road safety created in partnership with Road Safety Scotland.
Marc Lambert, Director of Scottish Book Trust, said ‘Primary One is a crucial point in every child’s learning journey, and it is the perfect point at which to begin a lifelong love affair with books. The Bookbug Family Bag has been designed to help teachers, librarians and parents show children how much enjoyment can be derived from books and the possibilities that lie between the pages. This association of books with fun will in turn lead to a more positive educational experience, inspiring children to seek out and devour more books. The bag is also intended to create a lasting link between reading at school and at home’.
And finally, here’s some advice from none other than Roald Dahl on what to do when the bag comes home;
‘o please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray, go throw your TV set away. And in its place you can install, a lovely bookshelf on the wall’.
You can read more about Book Week Scotland events happening in your local area in The Edinburgh Reporter’s article here.
Â
