Parents praise the work of the literacy charity, which will now lose its �13m government grant
Danni Grady, a dentist from Poole in Dorset, had never heard of the Booktrust programmes until she had her first child, Grace, now four. "But when we were given the books I thought, 'what a great idea'," she says. "It was a lovely surprise. It's extremely sad to think it is going to disappear."
Usually, new parents receive the first tranche of books ? the Bookstart baby packs ? before their child's first birthday. A second allocation encourages parents to read aloud with their children after they start school while a third programme, Booked Up, aims to give a free book to every child starting secondary school in England.
Grady, who is married to a physiotherapist and now has a second daughter, Olivia, two, acknowledges that some people may question why middle-class parents need books subsidised by the taxpayer. But she insists the value of the programme lies not in saving parents the small amount they would otherwise have had to spend. "It's not necessarily about the books themselves; it's the encouragement you need to read to your children which I don't think comes naturally if you're not a big book reader yourself. That encouragement you can get from receiving just a few books is great."
Reading to children, Grady argues, is one of the joys of parenthood. "From a selfish point of view I enjoy it. It's good fun. They get a lot out of it. It is exciting when you see their language skills developing. I know with my older girl that before she could say anything her understanding of what was what was great, just from looking at books together and saying, 'point to this or that', and she would do it."
Grady argues that books can be a vital weapon in the war with the television. "One of the issues we face nowadays is the battle with the TV, which is always on. To have some time away from that is really great for kids, but that doesn't happen very often which is where Bookstart comes in by encouraging parents to take some time out to do just that."
Every year about 2.2 million children benefit from books distributed by Booktrust, an independent charity, and the scheme has been copied by other countries. "Bookstart has been going 18 years," said Viv Bird, its chief executive, who is keen to stress that the scheme generates significant returns for society that far outweigh the �13m annual grant it receives from government. "It's an internationally evaluated programme operating in 24 countries around the world. There's a lot of evidence the social return on investment offers phenomenal value for money."
One of its key strengths, Bird argues, is its experience and depth of knowledge. "Bookstart chooses quality books. All are chosen by experts to make sure they encourage conversation and questions. Parents say to us these books are the most loved books in their homes."
Bird said Booktrust was a model for the "big society" in that it operated as a public-private partnership working closely with local authorities, libraries, health providers and publishing houses to ensure children received their books at a minimum cost to the taxpayer. The decision to withdraw funding from next April has left the charity frantically looking around for alternative financing ? at a time when many other not-for-profit organisations are also trying to find cash. Publishers who have backed the programme are asking what happens next.
Bird is putting on a brave face and will look to lobby ministers early in the new year following a public outcry over the decision. It looks likely that the issue could become another cause of tension for the coalition.
"I would be interested in Nick Clegg's response," Bird said. "He was a great champion of Bookstart but now he's gone quiet. I would like to know if he's still going to support us."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/25/booktrust-funding-cut-reading
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