So much of what is now taken for granted as good practice among Reading for Pleasure enthusiasts was first articulated by Aidan Chambers. His books on encouraging a culture of reading drew on a lifetime of wisdom and his ideas are just as relevant today as when they were first published in the early nineties. […]
Make a story sack and share it Story sacks are a wonderful way to make a story sharing session truly immersive and engaging. Reading aloud combines with storytelling and role play. The idea is to gather a simple collection of props that can be used to develop the story in imaginative ways, making it an […]
Go All In for the National Year of Reading and join in with our story sharing festivities in May. This year National Share-a-Story Month: Once Upon a Storytime will be celebrating the joy of reading aloud. To make sure everyone is ready, Anne Bradley, previous National Secretary of the Federation shares her precious advice on […]
What Makes a Great Read Aloud? Choosing the National Share-a-Story Month booklist There is something magical about being read to and sharing a story with a roomful of others. At ten, I had been reading to myself for years. Even so, when the headteacher of my primary school, Miss Welch, came in to read Linnets […]
National Share-a-Story Month 2026 – Once Upon a Storytime Share your love of stories by reading aloud! This year as part of our pledge to The National Year of Reading we have chosen reading aloud as the focus of National Share-a-Story month. Once Upon a Storytime invites you to celebrate the way that reading aloud […]
Every year at our conference some of the books from the publishers’ exhibition have been donated to Read for Good. Tash Hyde, the Read for Good Publisher and Book Sector Lead, explains how those books are used. “Read for Good has been a charity close to my heart for the last decade or so. I […]
We are wrapping up the Children’s Book Award Blog Tour with our final shortlisted title in the Books for Older Readers Category! Today’s blog features a Q&A with Fidan Meikle about the shortlisted book, My Name is Samim. How does it feel to be nominated for the Children’s Book Award? This is the only […]
We have two shortlisted titles still to discover! Today we find out more about is The Last Dragon on Mars by Scott Reintgen. How does it feel to be nominated for the Children’s Book Award? This is the only book award that is voted on solely by children across the UK. To me, there’s […]
Welcome to the third and final stage of the blog tour for the Children’s Book Award. This week we find out more about the shortlisted titles in the Books for Older Readers Category. See below for the Q&A with Christopher Edge for his shortlisted book, Fear Files, Hide and Seek. How does it feel to […]
Today is the last day for the blog tour celebrating our shortlisted titles in the Books for Younger Readers category. We welcome Chante Timothy to the blog answering our questions about Supa Nova, the last of the shortlisted titles in this category! How does it feel to be nominated for the Children’s Book Award? […]
