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| This article first appeared
in the June 2001 issue of Literacy
Today (issue no. 27). |
Dads and
other superheroes
Cal Warren, Meadows literacy
projects coordinator, Nottingham Health Action Zone
| Nottingham
fathers have been hard at work in their local library building a Batcave
and reading stories to children. |
How can you get a group of men
unused to talking about books into a library? By putting their DIY
skills to work building a Batcave, talking about comics, and getting them
to dress up as comic heroes. In the nine days Meadows library's Batcave
was open, 482 children and adults visited, borrowing the biggest number
of books ever.
The Batcave is a storytelling
role-play area for children to listen to stories, play at being Batman/woman
and Robin, to read comics, talk about their favourite characters and to
have fun. It was inspired by literacy lecturer Jackie Marsh's research
on how young children are motivated to take part in literacy role-play
by characters from popular culture such as Batman. Having read her article
in Literacy Today on the success of a Batcave, building our own version
seemed the ideal way to involve fathers, and it would be an attraction
for children too.
Through the Meadows Bookstart
project, meeting mums at the health centre has been easy, but Bookstart
funding from the Nottingham Health Action Zone was intended for working
with fathers. Working with health visitors, the library service and in
the community centre, and by just talking to fathers and men, I began
to get a group of fathers and brothers together. The Batcave idea gave
us the chance to draw on their strength: DIY. The men felt confident on
this ground and so, with the help of the local authority's play development
worker and the children's librarian, the Batcave project began. The fathers'
confidence grew with every mention of building, sawing or constructing
because the focus was on an area that did not intimidate them. They felt
relaxed and at ease - and they were in the library.
Once the fathers and I realised
that this was going to be a big construction it made sense to get as many
children involved as possible and organise a high-profile launch. This
was a fantastic success. The Sheriff of Nottingham opened the cave and
our local councillor read to over 70 children. The fathers dressed up
as superheroes and the excitement created was phenomenal.
Over the following two weeks,
we invited schools, nurseries and parent and toddler groups to visit the
Batcave and continued the theme of promoting a positive image of men and
reading by inviting local fathers and workers from the Meadows area to
read to the children. Caretakers, youth workers and even the Police Area
Inspector (reading Creep The Crook, of course) took part.
You can tell when something
is going to work because it almost takes on a life of its own. I heard
one of the fathers saying that "next time" we could go into the schools
and nurseries and build smaller reading areas, using the experience they
have gained from building the Batcave. The fathers want to take the Batcave
on tour to libraries and schools, and there are plans for it to feature
at the Meadows summer festival and at a play event.
The project's success has been
in the fathers pleasure in building the Batcave and their increased confidence.
At first they were surprised that a group of children would actually sit
quietly and listen to them reading, but they could see that the children
loved it, and that what they had done was important. One of the fathers
from the Batcave project has started a play development course and one
of the brothers has become a volunteer at one of the local nurseries -
Superheroes indeed.
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