Get Reading off to a flying start! (Sure Start Bookstart Reading Scheme)

Member Name: mummy2harry

Product:	Sure Start Bookstart Reading Scheme
Date:	28/03/09 (334 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Free books for children, promotes reading, aimed at correct age groups,guidance material for parents

Disadvantages: None at all.

As you can probably tell from the large amount of book reviews on Dooyoo, I am a real bookworm and I love nothing more than settling down with a good book of an evening! Ever since I became a mum, I have tried to instill a love of reading in Harry as well, and it seems to have worked because he adores his bedtime stories and even a story in the middle of the day too! But strangely, it wasn't until Harry was 9 months old that I found about the wonderful Bookstart scheme for all children in the UK, and maybe with this review, I can pass on the annoyingly little known scheme myself!

Bookstart is a scheme run by the Government and local councils which pledges to provide books for babies and young children, and also information about reading and other related services such as libraries to their parents. Bookstart is conducted through health visitors, library services and some nursery schools also take part in the scheme which tries to ensure that it reaches as many children as they possibly can. Every child up until 4 is eligible for 3 different packs from Bookstart, so if your child hasn't had one yet, it's time to get onto your local library about it!

The first pack, Bookstart for Babies, is usually given out at your baby's 8-9 month health check at home by your Health Visitor. It is a beige canvas bag with the blue Bookstart logo visible on the front, and has inside some goodies for mum and baby. Your bag should contain 2 board books for your baby to enjoy, a nursery rhyme 'placemat' (although we stuck ours on the fridge door!), an advice booklet for parents about hwo to encourage reading at such a young age and information about your local library service in case you and your child aren't already members. As I was relatively new to my area at that point, I found the library info invaluable and it's handy for those who just don't know anything about it either.

The second pack is given between your child's 1st and 3rd birthday. This is the one I didn't know about until Harry was over 2 because we weren't seeing a Health Visitor as Harry didn't need to, and nobody told me about it, so I was kept in the dark about it! I found out once I got my job at the library that Harry was entitled to his second pack so I eagerly took it home for him, and boy was he excited! It's a plastic bookbag and it comes in 6 different colours so you can choose the one to suit your children best (red, yellow, green, blue, purple or pink). It's fastened with velcro so kids can open it themselves, and it has 2 story books, crayons and notebook, more library information and a booklist of books suitable for the age group of the pack. A year on, Harry loves using his bookbag for library visits and feels proud using it! It's lasted well and is a great idea for this age group who are getting more independent by the day.

Finally, the last pack is the Bookstart Treasure Chest and is for 3 to 4 year olds. It's a big sturdy cardboard box full of goodies for children and Harry got his today and is still amazed by it! It looks like a real treasure chest and contains another 2 books (Harry got Peace at Last by Jill Murphy and was over the moon!), some Crayola pencils and sharpener, stickers, leaflets, notebook and bookstart plastic bag as well. It's such a good idea for toddlers who love novelty things because they will love having their own secret chest of special things, and it just serves to make books and reading fun for children.

I think this scheme is just fantastic, and its terrible that some parents aren't made aware of it while their children are eligible to receive the fantastic, carefully thought out packs. When I get new people registering at my library, and if they have children with them, I always talk them through the Bookstart scheme and give out the appropriate packs which always thrills the children and makes the parents library trip that much easier because they're hunting through their new goodies! Health visitors should make parents aware of the scheme, and also Surestart centres and creches should be promoting it too. If all else fails, just pop along to your friendly librarian like myself and tell us you want a pack, we're more than happy to give them out and create new readers! You also get a £1 booktoken in each pack too, so you can go and buy your child a nice book of their own after getting their pack too to build their own little library at home!

The books that your child receives varies because they are all packed at a secret HQ (or maybe not!) so if you get one which is really inappropriate for your child, say they are petrified of dinosaurs and you get a dinosaur pack, your librarian will be more than happy to swap it for another for you. Harry's had a good selection of books so far, and we were particularly happy to get a Jill Murphy book in his latest pack so it's been a real success for Harry. The other gifts make the packs fun and are just an added extra for your children to enjoy. As well as the reading packs, Bookstart also runs a Bookstart Book Crawl for young children, and is for under 4's to read lots of books and collect certificates for doing so! You get a sticker everytime you bring a book back to the library, and for every 4 stickers, we give you a lovely new certificate, fab! I have gotten quite a few children doing this at my library, and Harry loves collecting his stickers too.

If you've not heard of the scheme before, please check it out because it is a great free resource for children under 4 and encourages them in reading, which I think is so important at a young age. You don't have to be a library member to get the packs, but of course libary membership is free and a fantastic resource too! The bags and boxes will provide your child with hours of fun, the books are real favourites and great reads, and the extra bits make them feel that bit more special. Bookstart is a fabulous scheme, and I hope you all enjoy it as much as Harry and I have!

As well as the usual packs given out, there is a package available for Visually Impaired children called Booktouch, and also Bookshine for deaf children, and these are usually requested through your health visitor or contacting Bookstart directly. For more information, visit www.bookstart.co.uk. All information about the scheme, the books and other information can be found there, and is a great site to browse around.

Thank you for reading!

Summary: A fantastic service to promote a love of books in children.