We chatted to Cathie from our Schools team to find out all about the work The Bookery does with schools and what we’re doing for World Book Day this month.

How did you first come to work with The Bookery?

I was involved from the beginning with buying out the old bookshop and establishing the new community owned one. I had recently retired and thought working in a bookshop sounded my ideal voluntary role… I soon realised my skills weren’t with working the till but using my background of working with children. I’ve always had a keen interest in children’s books and have used these in my teaching to support cultural diversity and inclusion.

In a sentence/nutshell, what do you do for The Bookery?

I run the schools programme, co-ordinating a team of volunteers. We take authors into schools, run bookfairs, run sessions for ‘reluctant readers’, hold inset for teachers on the latest children’s books, and respond to individual schools’ requests (eg  for library refurbishment).

Tell us about the World Book Day events you’re currently working on.

As from next week we will be going into 17 schools, spending half a day in each school. We will see the children  in three age groups (R&Year 1; Years 2&3; Years 4,5,6) and introduce them to new authors and new books. These 20 books have been painstakingly selected by us over the year to represent the best new books for children to inspire reading for pleasure. They aren’t the books teachers would necessarily choose – they may not be good for topic work or discussing ‘issues’ – they are fundamentally good reads, to encourage children to want to read more and foster a love of reading. After each session where we have introduced the books we then hold a book fair.  We deliberately keep the prices low so that as many children as possible can afford them. Each school we visit also buys a set for the library so that even children who have not brought any money can find out ‘what happens next’. We have encouraged this in order to be inclusive: a key part of our philosophy.

This year our schools World Book Day programme was fully booked within 24 hours. We have also introduced Super Readable books this year – for children who are dyslexic or who may struggle to read longer texts. We know there is a need for this from comments from both teachers and children.

Can you explain why these events are so important?

I’ve worked with teachers for many years and know that for many, keeping up to date with the latest children’s books is not something they can find time for.   The World Book Day events themselves are important for encouraging children to read! There is evidence that reading for pleasure has a strong correlation with not only academic success but also emotional and social maturity. There is nothing more pleasurable than seeing children come up after having heard us read extracts from the books, choosing the book they want and walking out with their nose in it.

Who would you dress up as for world book day – when you were a child and now?

When I was a child I loved Enid Blyton, Nancy Drew, and the Madeline stories. I think I would have been Madeline – arriving in London!  As for now…. I think I’d come as Lyra from His Dark Materials so I could have a demon, which would have to be a terrapin.

Find out more about our work with schools.