Every Child A Reader: Reading Communities
Every Child A Reader: Reading Communities is the latest branch of the Every Child A Reader project and our most ambitious school book-gifting project yet. Funded by the RTÉ Late Late Toy Show Appeal and the Community Foundation for Ireland the project launched in September 2021 and ran until June 2024. As part of this initiative, four primary schools worked with a Champion of Reading (an author or illustrator) across the three years and received a library of over 1,000 books, resources and training from the team at Children's Books Ireland.
We aim to make reading part of the fabric of school life, and to create buzz and excitement for the whole school community. We want every student to feel part of their library's success, teachers to feel supported in making use of the library, and families to be encouraged to bring the culture of reading into their homes.
Over the lifetime of this three-year project, four primary schools each received a library of over 1,000 books for their school libraries and worked with a dedicated Champion of Reading (an author or illustrator) on projects and initiatives to inspire a love of reading and storytelling across the whole school community.
You can read about the Reading Communities project in full here.
This project was also evaluated by Dr Eemer Eivers, Senior Research Fellow at Dublin City University. With robust evidence of this initiatives success we hope to encourage government support of funding for school library books and author and illustrator school visits.
Read Dr Eivers' Evaluation Report here.
The Reading Communities schools and their Champions of Reading were:
- E.R. Murray – Scoil na Croise Naofa, Mahon, Cork
- Kim Sharkey – St. Brendan's NS, Kilmeena, Mayo
- Sarah Moore Fitzgerald – Scoil Chroí Íosa, Newcastle, Galway
- Tarsila Krüse – St. Joseph's NS, Dundalk, Louth
- A diverse collection of excellent modern titles, covering all ages, interests, genres, forms, themes and issues
- 3 years of working with a school-specific Champion of Reading – an author, illustrator or storyteller whose role is to encourage creativity and exploration of the new school library
- Posters and bunting for school displays, and stickers and a bookmark for every child
- Flyers for families with tips on fostering a love of reading
- Resource packs with activities and discussion points relating to books in your new collection
- Training for school staff on making the most of their new library collection
- Reading guides and themed reading lists on topics such as mental health & well-being, diversity & inclusion, going green, rhyme & verse, graphic novels, and sport
This project is not open for applications. However, you can sign up to our schools email newsletter in the footer at the bottom of this page to be notified when applications open for our other book gifting and schools projects.
Please contact bookgifting@childrensbooksireland.ie should you have any further queries in regards to this or any of our book gifting initiatives.
