About the Young Readers Programme

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The Young Readers Programme (formerly Reading is Fundamental UK) is the national programme that the National Literacy Trust uses to motivate disadvantaged children and young people to read for pleasure. The programme helps children and young people to acquire the skills they need to develop as a reader, from knowing how to choose a book that engages them, to where they can find books once the project is over.

The Young Readers Programme involves children, schools and libraries in inspirational literacy events which link fun and reading for disadvantaged children. As a part of each project, children choose free books to keep, often the first books participating children will own.

Each project is developed to meet the needs and spark the interest of the children involved. By utilising the expertise of teachers and librarians, and involving children in the organising of the programme events, we make sure that we have as big an impact as possible on the children. The Young Readers project coordinator Ann Brownlee, teacher at Wester Hailes Education Centre, Edinburgh said, “This programme is exceptional in recognising local knowledge and expertise and allowing professionals the freedom to meet the specific interests of the students they work with in their school.”

Children participating in the Young Readers Programme will learn strategies for finding and choosing books that they are motivated to read – books that are both personally interesting and at the right reading level. In addition to using these skills to choose new books to keep at our events, children have the opportunity to practise these skills in the local library, allowing for long-term impact on children’s reading as a result of taking part in a National Literacy Trust project.

As well as helping children develop a love of reading, the Young Readers Programme also benefits teachers by helping them develop a greater awareness of texts that are designed to engage hard-to-reach pupils and more generally of the books that children want to read. The project can also act as a catalyst for many schools that are trying to create a culture of reading, and are struggling to find something exciting to begin this change.